Graduation Trip
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Macy takes her friends with her down to the beach house in Colby. Too bad not all of it turns out to be fun...
1. Chapter 1

**Little mixture of Just Listen, Truth about Forever, and some parts with people from Along for the Ride. You know, Dessen's best books. **

Graduation Trip

Chapter 1

"Okay, I don't hate them or anything, but I refuse to ride with them."

Wes sighed. "Why, Kristy?"

"Because he plays creepy music! I am not driving all the way down to Colby listening to weird music."

"Put in your headphones!"

"No," Kristy told us simply before walking passed me and climbing into the front seat of the truck. "I'm riding in the truck. Monica can ride with Annabel and her weird boyfriend."

"His name is Owen," I said. "And stop. He might hear you."

"That's another thing. He's so…angry. I refuse to ride with him."

"Fine," Wes said, about done with the whole thing. "She rides with them. She can't smoke though. Owen doesn't like it. Alright?"

Monica, who was still struggling with putting her bag in the bed of the truck, looked up. "Doneven."

"Wes can ride with them," Kristy said, closing the door and rolling down the window.

"It's my truck, Kristy."

"And? Macy would rather ride with me and Monica than you. Besides, Bert's riding with them. You can hang out with him."

We all looked back at Owen's Land Cruiser, where Bert was sitting on the hood, listen to Owen talk. For some reason, he thought that Owen was some amazing guy. And I didn't dislike him or Annabel, they were okay, but they were more of friends of Wes. Well, Owen was at least.

This all started when my mom told me that I could take my friends down to the beach house by ourselves, as a graduation present. Then, Wes asked if he could invite Owen. I had hung out with him a few times. Then Owen asked if Annabel could come. I knew Annabel because nearly everyone at my school knew her after what happened with her and some chick named Sophie. She was nice, I guess.

"Actually, Kristy, I want to ride with Wes. We can all ride in the truck, can't we?"

"The two coolers are taking up two of the seats in the back, so no." Wes opened Kristy's car door again. "Out. Now."

"Wes-"

"Kristy, I am so not in the mood to discuss this. You're riding with Owen. Get over it."

Groaning, she jumped out of the truck, shooting us both dirty looks. Wes just shook his head.

"Can we go now?" Owen asked from over by his car. He had so far been in an okay mood and I wanted to keep it like that. Last time I saw him, he got upset. Last week at a party, Wes and him were talking when some dude spilt his drink on Annabel. Owen flipped out. Wes had to drag him away, which was not fun for any of us.

"Yeah, sure. Kristy's riding with y'all," Wes said, going to close the tailgate. Monotone jumped into the back and I got shotgun.

"This is going to be a long week," I told my boyfriend as he got into the truck.

"As long as Owen stays cool, we'll be good."

"What about Kristy?" Now that she was post-breakup, she was a monster to deal with too. "You should have just let her ride with us."

"Why? So that she could ruin our alone time?"

"Monica's here."

Wes just glanced at her before shrugging. I smiled at him before turning up the radio.

"I am so glad you convinced her to ride with Owen," I told Wes. "I _hate_ listening to his…crap."

"I don't mind it."

"That's because he likes you. When it's just me and him, he basically acts like I'm not even there."

"He's been going through a lot. That's why he's getting worse with his anger."

"And we're taking him to Colby because…?"

"I'm being a good friend. He needs to get away, Macy."

"Alright."

Wes reached over and patted my leg. "Pretty soon, we'll be in Colby, I'll take you out just you and me, and everything will be good. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

* * *

"Who's staying where?" Wes asked after we had taken all our stuff into the cabin.

"I don't care. Just stay out of my mom's room."

"I call the top bunk on those bunk beds," Bert yelled.

"No," Wes told him, going to get a soda out of one of the coolers. "Maturity rule. Oldest picks first."

"Who's oldest?" Kristy asked, sitting down on the couch.

"Me," Wes told her. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine, pick."

"Me and Macy get Caroline's room."

"You can't pick for her," Bert said. "That's cheating. You get the bed in Caroline's room. Fine. Next."

"I don't know. Uh…Owen?" Wes looked at him, but he shook his head.

"Annabel's older than me by a month."

"Fine. Annabel, chose."

"Wait." Bert crossed his arms. "How do we know that she's next oldest? Kristy could be-"

"Me and Owen can just stay in here, on the couch," she offered up. Owen looked like he was going to argue, but then just went back to his mp3 player.

"Then it's down to Monica, Kristy, Macy, and me," Bert said. "Who's next?"

Monica, who had stayed outside to smoke, was skipped, so Kristy went next.

"Well, I know Bert wants the bunk beds, so…It's either share a room with him or Wes…Well…"

"Kristy."

"What? It's not my fault there's only one bed in the room with Wes."

"I'm sharing with Wes. Have fun with Bert."

"What about Monica?" Bert asked.

"Oh, we brought a sleeping bag, just in case," Kristy reassured him as she went to their room. "Come on, Bert. We're going to set ground rules."

"Ground rules?"

"I am not an easy person to deal with in the morning."

"Oh, yes, I know."

Wes stayed to talk to Owen about something, so I took our stuff to my sister's room. When he came in there, he immediately jumped onto the bed.

"We're here now."

"Yeah."

"So…What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. You?"

"I'm sure Kristy and Bert will be in here soon bothering us."

"Probably."

"Come here."

I laid down next to him, laughing when he blew air in my face, something he knew I hated.

"I really wish we had just come down here alone."

"My mom would have never gone for that."

"Eh, who needs her?"

"Me, kind of."

"Yeah, you." He kissed my nose.

"You know, though, that we can't mess around in here."

"Why not?"

"This is my sister's bed. Ew."

"You don't think that maybe…her and Wally did in here, do you?"

"…I don't want to think about it."

He laughed, closing his eyes. "Even if this whole weeks sucks, at least we get to be alone in this room."

"Y-"

"Wes, tell Kristy that it's not fair for her to think that-"

"Bert, could you try knocking?"

He frowned. "Yeah, but-"

"Your room, your problems."

"Wes-"

"Macy, he can fight his own battles."

"Not ones with Kristy. Even you can hardly deal with that."

"I can hear you," Kristy yelled from somewhere in the house.

"Just go, Bert," Wes said, waving his brother off. "We're busy."

Grumbling, the boy left, much to the joy of Wes. I laid my head closer to his.

"You're so mean to your brother sometimes."

"Nah, you just don't understand because you're the younger sibling."

"Oh, right, okay."

"It's true. If you were older, you would understand."

He rolled onto his back while I laid a hand on his chest, sighing a little. "Yeah, okay."

"You should call your mom; tell her that we're here."

"I sent her a text."

"What time is it?" He asked. I pulled out my cell to look. "Ten."

""We should have left earlier."

"We were going to, but then Kristy said that she had something to do and that it wouldn't matter if we got here at night." Wes sighed a little. "She's been really annoying since she got broken up with."

"I think that most people are."

"Not all." He kissed me. "You wanna go back out there or what?"

"We can," I said, standing up. I took his hands and helped him get up. As soon as he was, Wes kissed me before letting go of my hands and walking out of the room. I shadowed him to the living room.

"The great thing about the Mayan's is that they just disappeared. Still to this day, no one-"

"Owen, I promise you that she doesn't care," Annabel said, making Owen frown. Monica, who he was talking to, just stared blankly at him. "And I don't really want to hear you talk about it anymore."

"Whatever." He was sitting down on the couch next to his girlfriend, messing around on his laptop.

"Are we going to do anything tonight?" Kristy asked, coming into the room with a now sullen Bert following. I felt bad for him, having to share a room with Kristy.

"No," Wes said, walking into the kitchen. My mother and sister had been down here alone last week and left us sodas and food. "I mean, you can, but I'm tired. Macy?"

"We can just wait till tomorrow to do stuff. Unless you had plans, Kristy."

"No, I'm just bored."

Wes came back out of the kitchen with a pack of Oreos. "Then go out and do something. I'm going to bed."

Owen got up and walked out of the house, his girlfriend following. Bert ran after them, making me smile a little.

"What's his problem?" Kristy asked, nodding in the direction of Wes, who was walking back towards Caroline's room.

"I don't know. He's just been uptight recently."

"Well, I think he's been a jerk to me recently," Kristy said.

"Mmmhmm," Monica agreed, staring at her nails.

"I don't know anything about it," I told her, shrugging.

"Well, ask him."

"Ask him what?"

"If he's mad at me."

"Well-"

"Go. Come back and report when you're done."

Rolling my eyes, I left them and went to my sister's room. Wes was in bed, eating cookies. Slowly, I laid down next to him, shaking my head when he asked me if I wanted a cookie.

"Don't eat those all," I warned. "You'll get sick."

Wes just kissed my head. "You wanna go for a run in the morning?"

"No."

"Well, we are."

Yawning, I decided I had better find out what Kristy wanted before I fell asleep. "So what's up with you and Kristy?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been mean to her. Are you angry with her?"

"No. I'm just over listen to her. She's been bugging me recently, that's all."

"She thinks that you're mad at her."

"And?"

I took a cookie from the container. "Are you seriously just going to sleep?"

"Right now, yeah." He set the cookies on the ground before turning to me. He kissed me once, but nothing was ever one with us. I guess we stayed in our room for longer than I thought, because when he finally laid down to go to sleep and I left the room, Kristy and Bert were gone. I peaked into their room, but Monica was just sleeping in the sleeping bag, offering up no explanation.

When I went into the living room, Annabel was sleeping on the couch, while Owen sat on the ground with his back pressed against the couch. Resting on his knees was his laptop with his headphones plugged in. Not wanting to deal with him, I refrained from asking about Kristy and Bert. He probably wouldn't know anyways.

I got a soda before going out on the porch, looking around. It was kind of cold out tonight. I sat down in my mom's chair, sighing a little.

I must have fallen asleep out there, because Kristy woke me up as her and Bert came out onto the porch.

"There you are," Kristy said, coming up behind me. "Macy, I think that I met Mr. Extraordinary."

Rolling his eyes, Bert sat down in a chair next to me. "He didn't even speak to us."

"I could see it in his eyes."

I opened my eyes a little, blinking. "What?"

"We went to go find a party."

"And you did?" I asked.

"No."

"Then where-"

"He was riding a bike around. He was amazing."

Bert shook his head. "He did some tricks. He didn't even know you were watching him."

"A bike? Isn't that kind of childish, Kristy?"

"No. Wes plays with metal all day. You don't think that's childish."

"Metal isn't childish. It's…manly."

"This is a conversation that I can be taken out of," Bert said, standing up and going back inside.

"So what did Wes say?" Kristy asked.

"About what?"

"Macy."

"Nothing, really. Just that…you're annoying him recently."

"What? That's all he told you?" She frowned. "How am I annoying him?"

"I don't now."

"Macy, you guys were in there forever."

"We got…sidetracked. Besides, it was not that long."

"Did he tell you anything else? Like anything?"

"No."

"How am I going to fix it if I don't know how I'm annoying him?"

"Just quit talking to him for awhile," I suggested. "Then he'll see how great of friends you guys are and miss you. It'll work."

"I guess," Kristy said, walking off inside. I stayed out there for a few more minutes before getting up and heading in also. I passed Owen, who was still on his laptop. He nodded at me this time and I smiled back at him before heading to Caroline's room.

I changed into shorts before getting into bed with Wes. He was mostly asleep, but did pat me on the head.

"Don't treat me like a kid."

"Just go to sleep," he told me. "Tomorrow, we get to run."

"Fun."

"It better be."


	2. Chapter 2

Graduation Trip

Chapter 2

I want sitting on the porch steps, talking to Kristy and drinking a beer when Bert came out there. I didn't think anything of it as he sat down next to us. I figured he could at least talk to Kristy because I was about out of it. I think I had drank more beers than I planned to.

"Why are you guys out here?" Bert asked.

"To get away from Owen," Kristy said, shaking her head. "I hate his stupid music. You know that he was blasting it this morning, right?"

"I wasn't here. Me and Wes left early."

"To what?"

"Run."

Kristy rolled her eyes. "You guys have a weird idea of fun."

"You're telling me."

"Doesn't anyone want to go to beach?" Bert asked. "It's almost noon and all anyone has done is drink."

I stared at my beer can, realizing that he was right. This had to be my third beer in the past two hours. Setting it on the step next to me, I decided that I was done for the time being.

"Alright, who wants to go do something?" Wes asked as he walked out the backdoor. "Me, Owen, and Annabel are going to go down to the beach. Who wants to go?"

"Me," Bert said, jumping up. I tried to stand, but almost fell back down. Wes catching me stopped that.

"Have you just been out here drinking?"

I stared up at him and nodded. Wes sighed a little.

"Can you try walking without falling?"

Again, I nodded.

"Then do you want to come?"

Nod.

"Come on then."

Wes held my shoulders as he led me through the house. I tried to jerk away from him, but almost ended up falling. He just patted my head again like I was a kid.

"I'm not drunk, Wes."

"I know. Wish you were."

I elbowed him. "Let me go."

"Fine." He did so before looking around. "Guess Owen and Annabel already left."

"Dang," Bert said as he walked to his room to change into his trunks. "Wish they had waited for me."

Kristy tied her hair back, looking around. "Anyone seen Monica?"

"Not since this morning," Wes said, pulling off his shirt. "She probably went to smoke or something."

I didn't feel like hanging out at the beach, but I went with them, if only because I didn't want to be left home alone. Bert and Kristy were messing around in the water, but I just sat in the sand with Wes, ignoring some chick that kept staring at us.

"Jealous ex?" I asked him, glancing at her. He shook his head.

"Don't know her. Or do you have a dark secret lover from the past?"

"Nope."

"Darn. So much fun that could come from that just wasted."

I tossed some sand at him. "Anyways, you wanna play?"

"Whose turn is it?"

"Mine." I slipped off my flip flops and dug my toes into the sand. "Uh…have you ever had a pet?"

"My mom had a dog once."

"What happened to it?"

"My dad took it with him."

"Oh." I didn't know a lot about Wes and Bert's father and he was rarely mentioned. I was afraid that if I asked, he'd refuse to answer and end the game again. "What was its name?"

"Butter."

I giggled, making him smile.

"I hated that dog."

"Why?"

"It would always steal my food when I wasn't looking."

My laughter was broken up by Kristy screaming at Bert.

"I told you not to knock them off!"

Wes and I both looked up to see Kristy and his brother looking down into the ocean.

"What's wrong?" I called to them.

"He knocked my sunglasses off my head."

"It wasn't my fault! She shoved me down first."

Wes shook his head. "Kristy, it's a pair of sunglasses. Grow up."

I poked Wes. "Leave her alone."

"Don't poke me."

I did it again. "Why? You don't like that?"

"M-"

Again, I poked him. Finally, Wes just grabbed my finger and pulled me closer to him. Wrapping an arm around my neck, he held me close.

"Let me go."

"Nope, nope, nope."

"No need to repeat yourself."

He gave me a nuggie, which made me squeal, before finally letting me go. I just leaned against him, sighing as Kristy still searched in vain for her fallen glasses.

"They probably are already gone, Kristy," I called to her as Bert gave up. "I'm sure we can buy some new ones. Come on."

We left the brothers by themselves to go find sunglasses. It wasn't hard. Kristy dragged me into a store that also had bathing suits and the such, which she was having a fun time looking at. I was halfway listening to her talk and partially looking at flip flops, when she gasped.

"That's him," she hissed to me, pointing at some guy.

"Him who?"

"That guy that was making eyes at me."

The guy in question had a little girl in his arms, carrying her over to the counter.

"Hey, Heidi, brought Thisbe back."

The woman behind the counter took the little girl. "Thanks. Did you guys have fun?"

The little girl, who had clearly been crying, ignored both of them. Heidi frowned.

"What's wrong with her?" She asked, setting the little girl down.

"She wanted to stay with me, but I had plans tonight."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Everyone's down for the start of summer and we're going to hangout. I have her nearly every day. I figured you could take her."

"Of course. She is my daughter, you know."

The guy just nodded before taking off his baseball cap and setting it on the counter. "Give this to her when she calms down."

"I will. Can you tell him by, Thisbe?"

"No!" The little girl stomped off to the back, but the guy just shrugged before walking out of the store.

"That's perfection to you?" I asked, frowning.

"You don't know him like I do."

"You don't know him at all, Kristy."

"Whatever. Let's just get these sunglasses and go, alright?"

"That's fine."

Instead of going back to the beach afterwards, we went to the house. Monica was there, filing her nails on the couch. Owen was there too, back on his laptop again.

"Where's Annabel?" Kristy asked. When it was obvious he couldn't hear us due to his headphones being in, Kristy said to me, "He probably killed her because she called his music crap."

"You're really harping on that."

"You didn't have to ride down here with him."

Owen, who was sitting in the chair, finally noticed our presence and looked up. This time when Kristy asked, he told her that she was in the bathroom. It wasn't thirty seconds later that she returned.

"Hey, guys," she said, coming to sit down on the arm rest of Owen's chair. He pointed to something on the laptop, to which she nodded.

"There you guys are," Wes said as they too came into the house. Kristy went to go sit down next to her sister on the couch while I went over to Wes. I was starting to feel less dizzy now that time had passed. "We waited."

"I thought you'd come back here," I said as he gave me a kiss.

"Sorry about your sunglasses, Kristy," Bert said as he went to go stand next to the couch.

"Good. You owe me twenty bucks."

"What? No. I could have bought you some glasses for two dollars."

"I am not that cheap, Bert. You should know that by now."

Wes wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "What do you guys want to do? Kristy? Owen?"

Owen glanced up at him before looking back at his laptop. "I got to finish this. Sorry."

"What are you doing anyways?" Kristy asked him. When he didn't answer, Annabel did.

"He's trying to find new tracks for his radio show on Sunday. He has to send them to his friend so that he can set it up, since we're here."

I was going to comment, but then my cell phone rang. It was my mother. Groaning, I walked off to the room I was sharing with Wes, him following.

"Hello?" I answered as he closed the door behind me.

"Hi, Macy. How are you? Are things okay there?"

"Yeah, Mom," I said, smiling when Wes came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Everything's good here."

"That's nice."

I had to elbow Wes when he started to put his hand up my shirt. "How did that open house go?"

"Good." I was talking about what she wanted now, so she went on for another ten minutes. After warning me to make sure that everyone behaved and not to let anything get out of hand, she let me hang up.

"Could you stop for like a minute?" I asked Wes, trying to move my neck away from his lips.

"What?"

"I was on the phone."

"I was quiet."

"Wes! Macy!" Bert stopped at the door this time, probably remembering his brother getting mad last time he just barged in. "Can I come in?"

"I said knock, not yell."

"So no?"

"What do you want, Bert?" I asked, pushing Wes away and opening the door.

"We're all going to go eat lunch. You wanna come?"

"Yeah," I said as Wes went to pull on a shirt. "Hurry up, Wes."

"You sure are demanding," he grumbling, following behind me closely.

We ended up at that same place my dad used to take me to eat every time he took us down to Colby. Last Chance is what it's called, I think. It was busy, but it was good food. We sat at a booth, borrowing a chair from another table so that all seven of us could fit. It was either that or make Bert go sit alone. Though Monica didn't seem to be enjoying us all that much.

"There he is,' Kristy hissed, making everyone else look at her. I just rolled my eyes. I was sitting between her and Wes, which I didn't mind, but I could tell that Monotone was hating being across from us, next to Owen.

"Who?" Wes asked, looking around.

"Mr. Everything," Kristy said, staring at him openly. He was with a bunch of other guys, not seeming to notice her watching.

Bert groaned. "Can we talk about something else? Like…Owen, talk more about the Mayans."

"They-"

"No thanks," Annabel said, rolling her eyes. "You two can do that on your own time."

"Isn't he amazing? Look, he's helping his drunk friend stand up."

"Sa-woon," I mumbled to Kristy, but she just shook her head. The drunk guy that her Mr. Everything helped up noticed us looking and began to make his way over to our table. "Great, Kristy. The drunk one's come over here."

"Stop looking at him and maybe he'll leave us alone."

"That only works with homeless beggars."

"Hey!" The drunk finally made it to our table and was standing over Bert, who was in the chair, leaning heavily on it. "Don't think'a that I'a don't see ya."

We all were quiet for a minute, hoping that Kristy was right, but she wasn't.

"I've'a seen a lot'a people 'round here," he went on, "but never, ever, ever, e…"

"…ver?" Bert offered up. Wes sent him a look, but the guy patted Bert on the head.

"Yeah. 'ver have I see someone as pretty as you'a."

We all assumed he was talking to Kristy since she was the one that basically summoned him over here. Then he turned to look dead straight at Annabel.

"What's your'a name'a?" He asked, starting to waver.

"Jake! Get your butt back over here," one of the guys called to him. Mr. Everything began to make his way over to come get him.

"Dude, just f off, alright?" Owen looked up from his mp3 player. "Go back over to your buddies and leave us alone."

"I wasn't talkin' to ya," the guy, Jake, said, frowning now. "Name?"

"Jake, come on," Mr. Everything said, grabbing his arm. "Don't bother people."

"Let me go, bro!" Jake jerked away from Kristy's dream guy. "I'mma get a hook up tonight, alright? No need to'a be jealous'a!"

"Seriously, knock it off, alright?" Owen sat up a little straighter, but Annabel just put a hand on his arm. Wes sighed.

"Dude, get your friend out of here, alright?" Wes said, frowning.

"No! I wanna talk'a to her'a," Jake complained, trying to shove the other guy off. One of their other friends came over to help. "No, Eli! Leave me alone! Adam, stop'a!"

The new guy let him go. "Fine. We won't touch you. Just come with us."

"I wanna talk to 'em."

"They don't want to talk to you."

"Yes!" Jake suddenly turned from Annabel to Kristy. "Scars wants'a me to'a stay."

For a second, I didn't get why he called her that. Then I did.

"Alright, you need to go," Wes said, standing up. "I'm serious. I will beat the shit out of you if you don't."

"Wes-" I tried, but I was interrupted.

"He's drunk alright? He's just talking," Mr. Everything said, frowning. "Come on, Jake."

"No!" He looked back at Annabel. "She wants'a me. I can tell. Looks like a slut."

Owen was quick to stand, even quicker to punch the guy. I told Wes that he would cause problems. I told him.

"Owen!" Annabel stood up and grabbed his arm. Mr. Everything caught Jake, but another one of their friends came running over.

"Hey, bro, you wanna start shit? Cause you got it now."

"Wallace, chill," Mr. Everything said, helping Jake stand up straight.

"I'll knock the shit out of all of you," Owen threatened.

"No you won't," Annabel said, trying to drag him away, but he wasn't budging. "Owen, now."

"You don't know who you're messing with, tourist dick," Wallace said, bucking up. Wes shoved him back.

"Yeah, I think we fucking do," Bert said, also standing. I reached over and grabbed his arm.

"Don't," I told him, standing up. "I mean it."

Monica got up and walked out, pulling out her cigarettes. One of the servers came over.

"You're going to have to leave, Jake," she said. "All of you, actually."

"We're going Colie," Mr. Everything said, dragging his half out of it friend away. "Come on, guys."

"You better watch yourself," Wallace called to us.

"Can say the same to you," Wes yelled back. I hit him in the head.

"Stop. You got your brother acting stupid too."

"You're going to have to go too," the server, Colie, told us.

"We're leaving," Wes said, sighing. "Come on, guys."

Bert picked up his fries before following up out. "Wes-"

"Not now."

'I wonder where Monica went," Kristy mused, walking next to me. "She gets so upset by arguments."

"Shut up," Wes said, frowning at her.

"What?"

"I said to shut up. All you ever do is give her these fake characteristics that you make up in your head. Just like you made up that that guy is interested in you. He's clearly not. Then you got that drunk to come over here and ruin everything."

"Hey, I'm not the one that punched someone," she said, glaring at Owen. "And you knew that we couldn't have gotten through this week without him flipping out. It's your fault, Wes, you invited him."

"It is not Owen's fault," Annabel spoke up. "He's going through-"

"Oh whatever," Kristy said, making Annabel frown, but she didn't say anything else. When we got back to the beach house, Owen and Annabel went outside to talk. Kristy went to her room, while I stayed in the living room with my boyfriend and his brother.

"That was fun," Bert mumbled, sitting down on the couch next to me.

"When your brother's acting stupid, Bert, you don't have to too."

"Yeah, I do," he said. "I had to back them in up in the fight. Without me, it was four on two. I had to even it up a little."

Wes laughed a little. "Which one did you have, Bert?"

"I liked the drunk guy, kind of, so I'd have gone for that one that came over there yelling at us. Like it's our fault that Owen had to punch the drunk. We weren't starting stuff, they were."

"You weren't going to fight any of them," I told him. "You either, Wes."

It was quiet as Wes came to sit on the other side of me. Then we heard Owen start yelling from the back porch, Annabel trying to yell over him. I interlaced Wes and my fingers. He smiled at me.

"At least we got Owen's one meltdown out of the way. It'll be smooth sailing from here."

"Yeah," I said, leaning against his arm. "You need to apologize to Kristy though. You hurt her feelings."

He huffed, clearly wishing I had just stayed silent on the subject. "I don't care, Macy."

"I know that you do though. That's why you got so upset when that drunken guy mentioned her scars. She's one of your friends and you were ready to beat him up about it."

Wes let out a breath slowly, not saying anything to this. Eventually, Owen and Annabel stopped too. Pretending that I was going to get a soda, I went to the backdoor and peaked out the window.

"Spying is not appreciated," Wes said, coming up behind me.

"It was so quiet that I just wanted to make sure that he didn't kill her."

Owen was now sitting on the porch steps, his head rested in his hands I think, but his back was to me. Annabel was sitting behind him, running her hands up and down his back and shoulders, whispering things to him.

"Alright, you saw, now leave them alone," Wes said, going over to the fridge. He pulled out a beer. "I'd offer you one, but I fear you're turning into an alcoholic."

"Oh, shut up. I only had three today."

"In like the span of an hour."

"Shut up."

We heard the front door close and looked into the living room to see Monica. Bert called a greeting to her, to which she nodded a little before heading to the room she was sharing with Kristy and him.

"At least we know she's okay," I said, walking back to the living room. "Now Kristy can vent to someone."

"Thank God it's not me," Bert said as Wes came in there too. "Last night, all she talked about was that guy."

"She can be a bit obsessive sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Bert questioned his brother. "Try all the time."

"Chill out, dude."

"You're mad at her too."

Wes shook his head. "I'm just…I don't know. I'm gonna, uh, go take a shower."

He gave me the rest of his beer before leaving. I sat back down next to Bert.

"So what's going on with Armageddon, Bert?" I asked, knowing I would regret it, but trying to be nice. Luckily, Owen and Annabel came back and Bert got distracted by talking to the older man.

"Hey, Owen, you wanna talk about the Mayans now?"

"We can," he said, sitting down. "Or I can show you some videos on my laptop. You're into the apocalypse right?"

"Yeah."

"It's about the Inca, instead of the Mayans, but it's pretty good," he said, coming to sit down on the couch. I got up and left them, though Annabel didn't seem that thrilled to have to watch the video.

"Hey, Kristy," I said, coming into her room. She was on the bottom bunk, talking to Monica, who was sitting on her sleeping bag. "You okay?"

"Yeah, of course, except for your douche of a boyfriend."

I gave her a weak smile, coming to sit down next to her. "He's sorry, if that helps."

"Gee, no?" Kristy blew her hair out of her face. "He acted like a real jerk to me."

"Mmmhmm," Monica agreed.

"He was just angry."

"Doneven."

"Angry? Why? He ate and got a show. If anything, I should be angry that I let Mr. Everything go without even getting a chance to talk to him."

I rolled my eyes. "He didn't seem that great."

"Yes he did. He resisted beating up Owen."

"I don't think he could."

"Oh, ye of little faith, I bet he could."

"You don't even know him."

"And? You don't know Owen all that well."

"Yeah, but I know that he could kick Mr. Extraordinary's butt."

"Please, save me your drooling. Do I need to go warn Annabel about your apparent obsession with Owen?"

"Trust me, there's not one. Besides, this is heavy talk for someone that has a thing for my boyfriend."

"Doneven," Monica told me, pulling out her cigarettes. I sighed, standing and walking away, not even caring that Kristy was now probably mad at me too.

Wes was in bed when I came into the room. I just laid down next to him, sighing.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked after about my fifth sigh.

"Nothing."

Wes rolled onto his stomach. "Sorry that lunch sucked."

"It was fine. Until the end."

"Tonight for dinner, me and you can just go out. I mean, if you want."

"Yeah, sure."

He closed his eyes. "Not back to Last Chance though."

"I don't think we're allowed, anyways."

He laughed a little. "I'll give it to Owen though; he knows how to make a memorable day."

"Yeah, so that you remember you hated it."

"You do not hate today. It's not even over yet!" He patted my head again, which apparently isn't going to stop anytime soon. "I'll make it all up tonight."

"What do you want to do right now?"

"Rest," he said.

"Wes, come on."

"No. I couldn't sleep last night."

"Why not?"

"You wouldn't scoot over."

"You didn't say anything."

"When could I? You just decided that my side of the bed was yours and then you were out. I didn't want to wake you."

"Oh, whatever."

Wes moved his head closer to mine, nudging my arm until I wrapped it around him. I smiled at him.

"Now who's not on their side?"

"There are no sides with naps. Only with bedtime."

"You just make up rules as you go."

"Yep," he agreed. "It works. You should try it sometime."

* * *

"Who keeps texting you?" I asked Wes, glancing at him.

"Bert. He's mad that we didn't take him."

We had gone out to eat and were now back at the beach, sitting in the sand. When we announced we were leaving, Bert begged up to take him with us, if only because Kristy was on a rampage. Apparently, she was mad at everyone now. I told him that if she got too out of hand, I had no doubt that Owen would punch her in the face and knock her out. At the time, I was joking, but now that I think about it…

"He can just leave on his own and do something."

"He said that would be boring." Wes sighed, putting his phone away. "We should have left him at home."

"Owen too."

"And Kristy."

"Monica."

"Annabel."

"You," I said, making him laugh. We kissed quickly before turning back to the ocean. The sun was starting to go down and I wanted to go back to the beach house, but didn't feel like standing.

"So Kristy's mad at you too, huh?"

"Yeah. Apparently, I'm supposed to chose her over you."

"Chicks before dicks."

"Especially when they're so small."

He pushed me, making me laugh. "You're one to talk, A-Cup."

"I am not!"

Needless to say, we were still teasing each other by the time that we got back to the house. Owen was on the couch this time, his girlfriend nowhere to be found. I didn't hear Kristy or Monica in their room either, so I guess all of them went out. Bert must have gone, seeing as he had stopped texting Wes. Owen seemed like he was sleeping, his headphone put in his ears and his eyes closed. Wes just took my hand, dragging me to the bedroom.

"It looks like they all left," Wes told me as he made me lay down on the bed.

"Y- What are you doing?"

Locking the door, he asked, "What?"

"Wes, we can't. This is Caroline's- Stop!"

He just pushed me down on the bed and got over me. "Who said that we were?"

"You-" This time, he cut me off with kisses. When he pulled back to take off my shirt, I said, "We can't."

"Oh, but we can."

"Wes-"

"You want it just as much as me. I can tell." He ground his hips against mine, laughing at my expression.

"Fine. You never mention this to Caroline though."

"Darn, but I always give her a detailed essay on our sex."

"Wes."

He went back to kissing me while also undressing me and himself. We were almost both naked when he stood up.

"Wes," this time I whined it, but I wasn't embarrassed. "What are you doing?"

"Condoms are in my bag," he said, rifling through it.

"Oh, so you planned this?"

"Always come prepared, Macy."

Groaning, I laid my head back on the pillow, waiting. "Hurry up before they get back."

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Then he stopped to laugh at his own sentence. I just rolled my eyes.

* * *

"So did you and Wes have fun?"

My eyes widened. "What?"

"On your date," Annabel repeated. "Remember?"

"Oh. Uh, yeah." I was in the kitchen, looking for something to eat, when she came in there too. Apparently, the others had gotten back okay at some point.

"That's good."

"Where'd you guys go? Only Owen was here when we got back."

"To get something to eat. I brought him food back, since he started a fight last time."

"Yeah, he's good at staring those."

She smiled at me. "He got better, for a little while, but then his sister got sick and he decided to ignore everything he learned in Anger Management."

I didn't know what to say to that. I knew that I changed when my dad died and Wes became a delinquent when his mom got sick, so now, maybe, I could understand why he was so angry. And maybe I could forgive him for all the times we were all hanging out and his ruined it by punching someone. Maybe.


	3. Chapter 3

Graduation Trip

Chapter 3

It's not like I'm not used to waking up early. Because I am. I honestly am. But after a night of sex, thinking about Owen's sister, and talking to Wes, I was not ready to be woken up by the sound of someone raping about vegetables over some horrible music.

"Wes?"

He just groaned, rolling over. I poked him, but he still didn't wake up. Huffing, I got up and changed clothes before gong to see who was blasting music at five in the morning. Who else, but Owen.

Annabel was still sleeping on the couch, though it was evident by the way she was laying that Owen had been on it with her at some point. Now though, he was gone. Grumbling, I made my way to the kitchen and peaked out the back door. He was out there, sitting in a chair with the outside table pulled up to him with his laptop sitting on it.

"Hey," I said, opening the door and walking out there. Owen glanced at me before going to his laptop and pressing pause on whatever program he was using to play his god-awful crap.

"Sorry. Was it too loud? I moved out here because Kristy complained yesterday. I'm just not used to anyone hearing it. Annabel sleeps through it."

Lucky girl…

"Just a little," I told him. Him saying sorry was throwing me off. He always seemed to so mean to everyone that I was just as ready to be mean to him too. Then had had to go and be kind to me. "What is it, anyways?"

"Techno."

I frowned. "I guess I don't like techno then."

He did something with his computer before play another song. "How about this?"

"Still techno? Because I don't like it either."

"Maybe it's just women. Bella doesn't like it either."

It took me a second to realize he meant Annabel. Hearing him refer to her with a nickname with weird to me, if only because I didn't picture him as affectionate. At all.

"Maybe," I agreed. "But I don't think Wes likes it either."

"He doesn't. Bert does."

Of course.

"I think he just likes anything you do," I said, sitting down across from him in a chair.

"Bert's okay, I guess. I always wanted a little brother." He frowned when he said that. "I mean, I like my little sister. She just has some…weird obsessions."

"Like what?"

"Annabel."

"…What do you mean?"

He laughed a little, smiling. Smiles weren't something that I saw a lot on his face. "She thinks Annabel's amazing for some reason. I don't know. She always has."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Annabel was a model and she liked her work or something. She's also obsessed with music."

"Ah. So you guys get along there."

"Her favorite singer is Bitsy Bond. And she likes Nicholls Lake and Jenny Reef."

"So no?"

He let out a loud sigh. "She's just a lot to deal with sometimes."

"Do you have any older siblings?"

"No."

"Then you don't get it."

"Huh?"

Borrowing from Wes yesterday, I said, "You don't understand what it's like to be the younger sibling then."

"I guess I don't, but it doesn't seem nearly as hard as being older."

"Then you must be a pretty good big brother. It was hell dealing with my sister."

"I think I am. She just gets frustrated with me sometimes."

"I have no idea how," I told him, nodding at his laptop. He shook his head.

"Now she's obsessed with annoying my mother by calling her by her first name. Teresa."

"That annoys your mom?"

"Yes."

"I could never get away with calling my mother by her first name."

"Me neither. But I'm healthy."

I didn't know what to say to this, but fortunately he moved right along.

"Back to music though, it's not her fault. She's just not enlightened."

"Enlightened?"

"Right. Neither are you."

I don't know if I was supposed to be offended or not, but I kind of was. "What?"

"Do you like music?"

"Yes," I said, frowning at him. "Just not what you like."

"Then you're not enlightened, more than likely."

"Just because everyone doesn't like what you like doesn't mean that they're not enlightened. Maybe you're the one that's not enlightened and just have been lying to yourself the whole time."

He took a moment to take in what I said and I feared that I would become his next victim. Instead, he just took a deep breath.

"Sorry. I just…there is no right or wrong in music."

"…Oh, okay."

"And if you honestly believe that you are enlightened, then I'll take your word for it."

"…Do you think anyone other than yourself is enlightened?"

"Annabel's sister Whitney is pretty enlightened."

"Annabel has sisters?"

"Two."

'What about the other one?"

"She's…something."

I laughed at the way he said that and he smiled for me again.

"What's going on out here?" Wes asked playfully as he walked out there. "Mace, do you realize how early it is?"

"I woke her up with my music," Owen told him. "Sorry."

Wes came up behind me and patted me on the head. I looked up.

"You have got to stop doing that."

He just smiled at me. "You wanna go for a run?"

"No," I told him, looking back at Owen, but he was already into his laptop again. "We can tonight, if you want."

"Fine, but we are running."

"Whatever."

Wes patted my head again before going back in, calling back to me that he was going back to bed.

"You two sure do run a lot," Owen mentioned to me.

"Yeah. I was in track back in middle school. Did you do sports?"

"No," he told me, shaking his head.

"Really? You seem like you'd be good at boxing."

"R and R."

"…What?"

"Rephrase and redirect. It's an Anger Management thing."

"Right," I said as again someone came outside. This time it was Annabel. She didn't say anything as she sat down in the chair next to her boyfriend.

"You're up early," Owen said, sliding her his coke.

"Everyone kept walking by. The couch was a stupid idea."

"Most of yours are."

I felt slightly bad that Owen and Annabel were stuck with the living room, so I decided to offer up that we changed rooms for the rest of the week.

"No thanks," Owen said for the both of them. "Not after what you and Wes did in that room."

Annabel chocked on the coke. "Owen."

I must have been blushed because she quickly apologized for him. I just shook my head.

"If you guys are fine with that couch, that's okay. I don't really want it anyways," I told them.

Owen shrugged. "Don't get so embarrassed. I was just being honest. It's not like anyone thought you guys weren't going to have sex."

"Stop, Owen," Annabel told him. "God, you are really trying to annoy me this trip, aren't you?"

"What have I done to you?"

"Besides humiliate me multiple times?"

"You're exaggerating."

"You still embarrassed me multiple times."

"I'm sorry, okay?" He snapped, frowning at her. "When some guy calls my girlfriend a slut, she needs to go ahead and realize that I'm going to punch him."

"Maybe I don't need to be your girlfriend then."

"Maybe you don't."

Awkward much? "I'm, uh, going to go back to bed."

"No, you don't have to leave," Annabel said, standing. Owen just reached out and grabbed her arm. "Let me go, Owen."

"No. Sit."

"O-"

'Sit."

She did so, clearly ready to fight with him more. I made my exit then, though once in the kitchen, I lingered a little, waiting to make sure she didn't end up getting punched. As seemed to be the usual with their fights, she ended up moving closer to him, whispering stuff in his ear. Owen just leaned back, eyes closed, nodding his head. Annabel looked up suddenly, and stared at me through the window. Shit, I was caught. She just smiled a me before reaching over to Owen's laptop and turning off the music. I thought that he would stir, but he just sat there, letting her do as she wished.

When I got back to our room, Wes was sleeping again, so I just got into my side of the bed, closing my eyes. I wasn't tired anymore though, and found sleep too hard to come by. So when I heard Kristy, Bert, and Monica's door open and close, I got up to see which one of them was up.

It was Kristy. She went into the kitchen in search of something for breakfast. I followed as she pulled out a Pop-Tart.

"Hey," I said, glancing out the window to see Annabel was now sitting in Owen's lap as he used the laptop, though he was no longer playing his music. Annabel was playing with one of the rings that he kept on his fingers.

"Hey."

"So did you guys do anything last night? Annabel said that you guys went out to eat."

"Yeah,"

I wasn't used to one word answers with Kristy, so I knew that she was still mad at me.

"So…You'd see Mr. Amazing?"

"Look, Macy, I know that you know that we're fighting, so cut the bullshit, alright?"

Okay… "Well, I'm just trying to talk to you, Kristy."

"Stop acting like yesterday didn't happen."

"I'm not."

"Because if there is anyone to be mad at right now, he's out there with his girlfriend, playing on a laptop."

"I actually talked with Owen this morning and I think that he's a pretty okay guy."

Rolling her eyes, she said, "You think everyone's an okay person as long as they're nice to you. Hell, you dated Jason and he was the biggest douche alive."

"Okay, he was not that bad. And compared to the guys you have dated in the short year I've known you, he was a freaking God."

"Oh, whatever."

"At least I can stay with a guy longer than two weeks."

"I can too."

"Michael turned out to have that creepy obsession with rape and lasted two months, David had a foot fetish and lasted three, Sam was the biggest alcoholic alive who lasted a week, J-"

"Alright, I get it. Just stop already."

Going to stand next to her, I put a hand on her arm. "I'm not trying to be mean, Kristy. Besides, we didn't really fight anyways. Just had a disagreement. It's not that big of deal. And Wes isn't even mad at you anymore."

"He's not?"

"No," I told her. "And remember when we were in the restaurant? He was ready to fight for you. If anything, you should be glad that he can get so upset over you. It just means that he cares about you."

"I guess you're right."

Monica walking into the kitchen stopped us from talking. She just took the other Pop-Tart out of the pouch Kristy had before walking off.

"She was really upset about what Wes said to me too," Kristy told me.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I told her, though I had my doubts. It was still early, so now that my issues with Kristy had been cleared up, I went to go get back in bed.

"Either stay or leave," Wes mumbled against his pillow. "The door slamming keeps waking me up."

"I'm staying," I told him, getting into bed.

"You better." Reaching out, he wrapped an arm around my body. I ran a hand down his arm, sighing a little as I tried to sleep. Eventually, it worked.

* * *

When I woke up, no one was home. They had all ditched me. Seeing as it was about noon, I figured they had all gone to get lunch. Frowning, I went to take a shower, angry that they had all left me. I mean, I was the whole reason that they were here after all.

After taking a shower, I went out on my own to explore Colby. While I was walking around town, I had an unfortunate sighting of Mr. Everything. Only he was with his friends again and they spoke to me.

"If it's isn't one of the tourist dicks," the one I recognized as Wallace said as I walked out of the gas station. I had gone in to get a drink and he was walking in with one of the guys that tried to pull Jake away. Mr. Everything was standing next to a truck, filling it up, while the drunk from yesterday waited in the truck.

I blushed, trying to ignore him. The guy with him hit him in the shoulder.

"Shut up, Wallace. She didn't do anything to you."

"You shut up, Adam."

Mr. Everything looked up and saw me. He just shook his head, going back to filling up his truck. Jake saw me though and got out of the truck as Wallace and his friend went inside.

"Hey, it's you!" He rushed to me as I tried unsuccessfully to get away. He grabbed my arm, forcing me to face him. "You know that girl, from last night. I want her number."

"Jake, you're already down. Leave her alone," Mr. Everything called from the truck as he made his way over to us. "Let her go."

"No, I just want to talk with her."

"I mean it." Mr. Everything came and put his hand on Jake's shoulder. Then he looked at me. "I'm sorry."

Kristy was right. He had amazing eyes. I just nodded as Jake let me go.

"Eli, seriously, I just want to talk to her friend." Jake smelled like beer and had probably cured his hangover from last night with a few drinks.

"Not today, Jake." Mr. Everything, or Eli as I now knew, pulled his friend away. "Tell your other friend's that we're sorry too."

Wallace and Adam were coming back out of the gas station, so I went ahead and started walking again. I was almost back to the beach house when my phone rang. Seeing it was Wes, I decided that I was still mad at him and didn't want to talk to him yet. So instead, I shopped a little before going back to the beach house.

"There you are," Wes said as I walked into the house. "You know, it would be nice for you to pick up your phone sometimes."

"And it would be nice to not be left alone in the house for no reason."

"You were tired."

"Was I? I don't remember you waking me up to ask if I was."

"I could tell, alright?"

"Alright." I went and sat down next to him on the couch. "Where's everyone else?"

"Out still. I came back to bring you food and you weren't here."

I kissed his cheek. "At least that allows us to be alone."

"You wanna do some alone stuff again? Right now?"

"Not that alone stuff. Where's my food?"

He got up and came back with a fast food bag from the kitchen. "Here you go."

"Thanks."

Wes sat back down next to me, peaking into the bag at my feet. "So you bought stuff?"

"Just some clothes."

"Ew." He sat it back down with obvious disdain. "Do anything else?"

"Well, I saw those guys from Last Chance."

He frowned. "They say anything to you?"

I thought about telling him that they called me a tourist dick, but thought better of it. If I was Annabel, I would have said it if only because I knew it'd rile him up. Wes was so against confrontation that I doubt anything could make him fight for me. Owen would jump in front of a train for Annabel and then beat the shit out of the train driver. Wes would mourn me for awhile before hooking up with some other chick.

"No."

"Really? Good. Jackasses."

I ripped my burger in half and gave one part to him, making him smile at me. I leaned against Wes as I ate.

It's not like I didn't know that he cared about me. Because he did. He always treated me okay. And it's not like I want to be _that_ girlfriend with _that_ boyfriend, like Annabel is. Then again, he was ready to fight for Kristy yesterday and she wasn't even really hurt by Jake's comment. Though, I guess he's known Kristy longer and probably cares about her more. I guess…

"They're not that bad. Besides, according to Kristy, one of them's Mr. Everything."

He sighed, taking a bite of my burger. "She thinks that every guy she meets is Mr. Everything."

"Not every guy," I mumbled, remembering the huge crush she has on Wes. And apparently, he was alright with her too.

"Yeah, but she dates some jerks."

"Eli doesn't seem like a jerk."

He looked down at me, curious. "You know his name?"

"Maybe they said something to me. Maybe."

Wrapping the arm I was leaning against around my shoulders, Wes asked, "What?"

"Nothing really. The drunk just wanted Annabel's number."

Wes laughed. "Guess that punch wasn't enough for him."

"Guess so." I still leaned against him. "Owen's not that bad of a guy."

"Where'd that come from?" Wes kissed my head. "And I know. That's what I've been saying since the beginning."

"Who can ever trust your judgment?"

"I would hope my girlfriend."

"I'm not yet convinced."

"You better get convinced. I am, after all, the man. I get to make all the decisions."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Damn right."

"Wes."

He just chuckled, kissing my head again. "Maybe I'll let you make a few decisions."

"Like what?"

"Like…whether we're cat people or dog people."

"Dog people."

"See, I was thinking cat, but I'll allow you to make that choice."

"Cat? You don't strike me as a cat person."

"I'm very surprising, Mace."

"Oh, I know," I said, swatting his hand when he tried to take my burger. "Stop it."

"What?" He ran his hand up and down my arm. I breathed him in deeply, cuddling against him.

After I ate, Wes and I went out to the back porch, wanting to be alone for a little while longer.

"This is going to be a long summer," I mumbled to him as we sat down on the steps. My beer can from yesterday was still there and I remembered that our last day, I'd have to do a sweep for all of them, not wanting my mom to know that we had alcohol while we were here.

"Good. I want it to be."

"Why?"

"The longer it will keep you away from college."

"Defriese isn't that far away."

"Yeah, I guess."

"You can drive down to see me."

"Nah," he said, bumping our knees together. "That's a smart person place. I'll feel out of place there."

"You're smart too."

"Not like you."

"If you wanted to go to college, you could."

"My time's better served watching over Bert and playing with metal."

"Playing with metal?"

"Yeah, and sometimes accidentally creating genius works of art."

"Sometimes. A lot of it is just a hit and a miss."

"Is that so? Your sister doesn't seem to think so."

"I'm more interested in what she thinks when she finds out that we had sex in her bed."

"Oh, we'll wash the sheets. No big deal."

"Yes, big deal. Owen heard us."

"Is that what the two of you were talking about this morning? Sex?"

"No," I said, pushing him. "It came up."

"How?"

"I offered for us to take the couch tonight-"

"What?"

"-but, he declined because he didn't want to sleep in the bed where we just had sex."

"Well, we weren't taking the couch regardless. Annabel had her chance to choose anywhere and she chose the couch."

"She was being nice because we were all arguing." I sighed. "I don't understand how they're together."

"What do you mean?"

"She's so nice and he's so…taut and confrontational."

"I'm sure that she can be mean too."

"Everyone can be."

"She sure yells at him enough."

"Only when he's a complete idiot. Which, by the way, is a lot."

"I thought that you liked him now?"

"I do."

"You're so confusing."

"Wanna play? While we're still alone?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Alright. Whose turn is it?"

"Let's see…after sex, you asked me a question and then…Did I ask you? I don't remember."

"No, so it's your turn."

"Okay."

"…Are you going to ask?"

"I'm thinking, Wes."

"Hurry up before I take your turn."

"What's the best memory you've ever had?"

Wes kicked his feet for a second, thinking. "I guess…it was the Christmas after my dad left. Back then, he still gave a shit. Bert had been having a very bad time and my dad came down and made him feel all better. He, uh, bought us a lot of presents. I even a new game system."

"Sounds like a pretty good Christmas."

"Yeah, it was. It was also the last time we saw him."

I wanted to ask why. I wanted to know so much more. Instead, I just leaned against his arm.

"What was your best Christmas?" He asked.

"The last one with my dad too, I guess. Now, looking back on it, it was kind of eerie."

"Why?"

"He, uh, didn't give…me my gift."

"How's that eerie?"

"You know."

"No."

"It was one of your sculptures."

"Oh. I thought…I didn't know it was for Christmas."

"Yeah. He died before I got it. My sister found it."

"I still don't see how that's eerie."

"You don't think that it's weird? I mean, it's kind of like a premonition, right?"

He shrugged. "I think…that everything happens for a reason. Everything in your life is foreshadowing something. That's why everything is so damn ironic."

Closing my eyes, I said, "I think that…my dad would have liked you."

"He did."

"Wes."

"What? He was my coach. Bert too. Coach Joe. Plus, I met him when he bought your gift. He was nice then too. He even remembered me. It was cool."

"My dad was a really nice guy, I guess."

"Yeah. And not that fake nice like your mother."

"Wes."

"She's really good at it though. I guess it comes with her profession."

"She's just really guarded these days."

"For the past year?"

"Try the past forever."

He smiled at me. "Once you get to know her…okay, she's still pretty harsh, but I don't think she hates me that much."

"I prefer not at all."

"Me too."

* * *

"Do you ever sleep?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

I sat down in the same chair I had that morning, right across from the same person.

"What are you doing now?" I asked him.

"I'm actually trying to find new songs."

"You still haven't finished your playlist for Sunday?"

"I have, I have," Owen said. "This is for personal usage."

"How do you find these song anyways?" I asked, frowning. "I've never heard any of the things that you play. Ever."

"That's because you don't know where to look."

I popped open the Pepsi in front of me. "Then enlighten me, Owen."

He laughed. "You're really good at turning other people's words on them."

"Am I?"

"Yeah. You do it a lot."

"I don't notice."

He laughed at that before playing another song, though he played it softly, as not to wake the sleeping other. They had all gone to a party tonight while Wes and I went running. Kristy went to the party in hopes that she would see Mr. Everything, but that was in vain.

"So did you guys have fun at the party?"

Owen glanced at me. "If you're asking if I punched anyone, no."

"That's not what I was asking. I just wanted to know if you had fun."

"The music was terrible, if that's what you mean."

"Figures," I said, shaking my head. "Have you ever been with anyone and just liked what they were listening to before you showed up?"

"Yeah. Of course."

"Who?"

"Guys in bands that I know."

Rolling my eyes, I took a sip of my soda. "So you didn't have fun?"

"I don't know. I'm not into parties. Annabel is. I wouldn't have gone, had she not wanted to. Besides, I think that the crazy chick doesn't like me."

"Kristy? Yeah, you're probably right."

He laughed. "You're honest. I like that."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

It was silent for a second before Bert came out there.

"Okay, Owen, so imagine that the Big Buzz doesn't happen. How do you think the world will end?"

I got out of my seat and Bert took it. Going to Kristy's room, I had to listen to her talk about Eli for awhile. I had yet to tell her that I saw him and his friends, if only to avoid the conversation. We were talking for awhile when Monica finally clear her throat, clearly wanting to go to sleep. I left them to go get in bed with Wes.

"It's nice, being with each other every night," he told me as I changed. "Seeing you naked constantly is a nice perk."

"It's dark. You can't see."

"I can see enough."

"After all the times that I've been naked in front of you, wouldn't it have lost the effect?"

"Meh."

Laying down in bed, I said, "Seeing you naked has lost it's effect."

"Explains why you still whine, 'Oh, Wes. Wes. Shit, Wes. Mmm, Wes'."

I elbowed him. "First off, I do not sound like that. Secondly, shut up. Someone might hear you."

"Wes!" He groaned in a high-pitched voice.

I sat up, putting my hand over his mouth. Wes just licked it, laughing when I removed it.

"Macy, you have my spit inside your mouth. How is on your hand worse?"

I wiped it on the bed sheets. One more thing to not tell Caroline about. "I don't know. It just is."

He closed his eyes. "Anyways, night, Macy."

I ignored him, mad that he had spit on me. Wes finally rolled onto his side.

"Are you upset?"

"No."

"Macy."

"You spit on me."

"Here." He held out his hand. "Lick me."

"Okay, that is so not the context I ever planned to hear you say it in."

"Oh? You plan for licking to begin to take place?"

"Wes."

"I have no problem with it, just to let you know."

"Wes, seriously, stop it."

He just smiled at me. "I'm sorry I spit on you. If you want retribution, take it. I won't mind."

"No," I said, rolling over to face him. "It's not that serious."

"Good." He moved forward a little and kissed me for a moment before pulling back. "Tomorrow, I want to go out with Kristy and them."

"What? Had too much alone time?"

"Yes."

"Wes."

Kissing me again, he stayed close to me, pushing some of my hair out of my face. "Never."

We kissed again before Wes moved back and closed his eyes. "Night then."

I pulled the blanket up closer around me, yawning. "Yeah, night."


	4. Chapter 4

Graduation Trip

Chapter 4

This morning, nothing woke me up. Not Wes, not Owen's music, nothing. When I looked at the clock, I saw that it was eight. Wes was snoring a little and I couldn't fall back asleep. Instead, I got up to get a drink.

Apparently, Owen does sleep. He and Annabel were both laying on their sides on the couch, though he was turned slightly so that she was half on him. It looked so uncomfortable, huddled together like that, but both seemed to be sleeping fine.

It was always weird for me, seeing them together. Like…Beauty and the Beast or something. That's what people called around school when they first got together. I didn't know either of them at the time and thought that it was just because of their looks. Now though, I figured his anger issues also had something to do with it.

When I got back into bed, Wes was waiting.

"Can you, like, stop waking me up each morning?"

"It's not even that early this time. It's eight. Normal people are already up."

Taking my water from me, he took a sip before saying, "Normal people aren't on vacation."

"This is vacation? Between Owen and Kristy, it has felt more like a babysitting gig."

"Meh."

I kissed him as he sat my water on the nightstand. When I pulled back, Wes made me lay down so that he was over me. We were making out when there was a knock on the door.

"What?" He called out.

"It's me. I knocked. So…We're out of Pop-Tarts and I'm hungry."

"And?"

"Do you guys want to come with me to get breakfast? Owen wants to sleep longer and I'm kind of, sort of broke."

"What happened to the money I gave you?" Wes got off me to go opened the door. "Huh?"

"Well, see, on the way to the party last night…let's just say that I have some really cool hats now."

"Hats. You wasted your money for the week on hats."

"It's only your fault, Wes. You never taught me the value of a dollar."

"Bert."

"Here," I said, getting up and going over to my fallen jeans. "Here's twenty."

"Macy, don't give him money."

"Why not? You do." I handed it over to Bert, who happily took it. When Wes shook his head though, Bert tried to give it back, though I could tell that he wanted it. "Just take it and go get something to eat, Bert. Me and Wes are busy."

"Wes and I," he corrected before taking his money and running off, not wanting to deal with his brother. Over his shoulder, he called, "Thanks, Macy."

"Stop giving him things," Wes told me, closing the door again. "If he spent all his money on hats, that's his problem, not yours."

"So what? You were going to let him starve?"

"Of course not. There's food in the kitchen."

"But not Pop-Tarts, Wes. If you were the younger sibling, you would understand."

"Ha, so funny."

"I try."

He kissed me before taking my hand and dragging me back to the bed. "I want to finish what we started earlier."

"Fine. But it ends where it began."

"Okay, cryptic girl. That's what you said the first time."

* * *

"What do we do when we're completely out of beer?"

"Hopefully that won't happen anytime soon."

"None of us have ID."

"Who knew that you would be the one that ends up worrying so much about beer?" Wes knocked his knee against mine. "You hardly drank when we met. Now, you're, like, obsessed with beer."

"I am not. Besides, there are worse things to be addicted to."

"Like?"

"Vodka. Daniels. Tequila."

"Don't forget Everclear."

"I don't know what that is."

"Consider yourself lucky. You couldn't handle it."

"I'm sure."

Wes laughed at me, stealing one of my onion rings. "You know though, we have to go find the others soon."

"Right. You hate alone time now."

"Not all alone time. What we did this morning was good."

"I'm sure it was."

"After we finish these beers, we seriously have to leave," Wes told me, leaning back on the couch.

"I don't feel like moving. I'm tired."

"Alcohol is a depressant."

"I have not drank that much."

"You always say that before you puke."

"I think," I said, setting my can down, "that we need to go ahead and go find them. They always have more fun when we're not with them."

"Maybe that's a sign."

"It's not fair that they get to have so much fun when we're only stuck with each other."

"I think that we have a pretty good time alone," Wes told me. "Sometimes."

Standing up, I wobbled a little before evening myself out. "Come on. Let's go."

We didn't have to go far. We only got out front before we found them, in a heated battle of Texas Hold 'em.

"I thought you guys were going to the beach?" Wes asked, frowning at them.

"We were. Then we ended up here."

I looked at Bert, who seemed to be winning. "Who brought poker chips?"

"Me," Owen said. "I was out here teaching Annabel how to play when they showed up."

They were all seated on the ground playing. Monica was playing with them too, but didn't seem to be interested.

"Is this where my twenty dollars went?" I asked Bert.

"Yes, but I won way more. I can pay you back now."

"But," Kristy broke in. "I'm gonna need you to loan me some money."

Rolling my eyes, I informed them that I couldn't play either. Wes said he had never played also. Quickly, we were all roped into the game. Just as quickly, we found out that Wes is the biggest liar on the planet.

"I didn't say that I didn't know how to play, I said that I didn't play very often because I'm not that good," he defended an hour later as he took me out to buy more sodas with his new found money.

"But you are good."

"Not compared to professionals."

"That's like saying that I'm not good at roller skating because I'm not a professional."

"Oh? You skate?" He picked up a twelve pack of Dr. Pepper, Bert's favorite. "And at a near professional level? I will have to witness this."

When we got back to the house, Annabel was on the couch, talking on her cell phone. Owen sat next to her, apparently waiting for her to finish.

"No, Mom. Yeah. No. I'm serious. He's fine." She glanced at Owen. "He's been very…mellow, actually."

Owen just rolled his eyes. Wes gave him a smile before yelling out for Bert to come get his drinks.

"Mom, you're the one that told me I should come down here. No. No. I'm serious. Owen hasn't done anything. Yes." Annabel got up and walked out the front door. Owen sighed as I sat down in the chair, watching Wes and his brother go into the kitchen.

"Her mom's not big on you?" I asked him.

"She was. Then…stuff happened."

"Fights?"

"The first time she met me was after I punched Will Cash. I mean, she couldn't have thought that I was a pacifist."

Will Cash…Right. I shrugged a little. "Maybe she thought you'd change."

"No one ever really changes. They just compromise a little."

Kristy came into the living room, smiling brightly. "Guess what I did while you were gone, Macy."

"Do I have to?"

"I found out where Mr. Everything will be this tonight."

"Yay?"

"Yes, yay."

"How did you find this out?" I asked her. "Extensive stocking?"

"As you know, I went with Monica to get more cigarettes. While we were in line, I happened to over hear two guys talking about a party."

"How do you know that he'll be there?"

"Because they said that the bike shop guy would be there. He is the bike shop guy."

"…How do you know that, exactly?"

"What I do with my time isn't important. What is important is that we're going to a party tonight. All of us. You and Wes have spent too much time alone."

"That's what I'm saying," Wes agreed, walking out of the kitchen. "Been saying it since I got with her."

"Shut up," I said, rolling my eyes. "Fine, Kristy, we'll all go to the party."

"Party?" Bert came in behind his brother. "Good. I can wear one of my hats."

"I'll burn those hats," Wes grumbled, making me stand up so that he could sit down. I then sat in his lap.

"Party's just aren't fun when you're with someone," I told Kristy as Wes ran a hand down my stomach. "You go to meet people. I already know Wes."

"Yeah, but you could make friends."

"I have enough friends, thanks," Wes said. "But, I'll go. It would be a shame to deny women a chance to look at me."'

I wiggled in his lap, just to shut him up. Suddenly, his attention became less distracted with Kristy and her talking and more with my hips.

"Can you guys not do that in front of me?" Bert collapsed onto the couch next to Owen. "Please?"

I leaned back against Wes, sighing a little. At least I shut him up.

Annabel came back into the house and sat down on the other side of Owen. He smiled at her, but she didn't return it.

"What's wrong, Bella?"

"Nothing. Mom's just flipping out over nothing."

"She's still mad that I-"

"Yes."

"It's not like I meant to-"

"I know. Just like you didn't mean to punch that guy the other night, right?"

"Well…yeah."

She elbowed him, but Owen just smiled. Kristy, who had gone to get a soda, came back.

"So, are we all in for the party? Monica is."

"Party?" Annabel asked. Owen made a face.

"We can just stay here, alone," he offered up.

"We're always alone. Yeah, we'll go."

Owen didn't looked thrilled, but he wouldn't go against Annabel and say something. As angry as he was constantly, he sure did let her run a lot of their life together. He wasn't controlling at all, which shocked me. Normally when you see a couple like them, the woman ended up just throwing her life away to do whatever the guy wanted.

Wes started tapping out a beat on my thighs with his thumbs. Kissing behind my ear, he whispered, "Parties are fun."

"For who?"

"I'd like to think us."

"Yeah, you'd like to think."

He gave me one more kiss before moving back. "So about our dog."

"Or cat, since you're such a cat person."

"We're getting a pet?" Bert perked up. "Really? Hey, Wes, remember Butter? I loved Butter."

I giggled as Wes rolled his eyes. Owen slipped off one of his rings and began to toy with it in his hand. Annabel reached over and took it from him.

"Did you guys ever have a pet?" Bert asked me.

"No. My dad tried to keep a dog we found once, but my mom wouldn't let him. She was afraid it would ruin her carpets."

"We should get one though, Wes. Me and you can take care of a dog, don't you think?" Bert asked, hope in his voice.

"No. You have to clean up after them, feed them, take them out-"

"It can just play in the yard with you while you work."

"We'll talk later, alone, alright?"

"Macy agrees with me, though," Bert told him.

"Macy doesn't live with us."

"Right."

Wanting to change the subject, I asked Annabel if she ever had a pet. She said she had fish once, but her sister Kirsten forgot to change the filter a few times and they died.

"Is she the enlightened one?" I asked, making Owen turn away.

"What?" She looked at Owen. "You think Kirsten's enlightened?"

"Of course not. Though, I do enjoy Led Zeppelin from time to time."

"That's probably the only band you've mentioned that anyone else knows," I told him while Wes went back to his beat on my thighs.

"Annabel knows everything I mention," he defended, though her face betrayed that thought. "Right, Bell?"

"What? Yeah. Of course."

He made a face, taking his ring back from her. "Anyways, back to pets, I always wanted a dog."

"Like a big dog?"

"It's not like I'll have a Chihuahua just running around town with me."

Annabel leaned against his arm. "I guess not."

"If anyone said anything, I'm sure you'd just hit them," Kristy told him before walking off.

"What did I do to her?" Owen asked.

"She doesn't like me either," Annabel said with a shrug.

"Consider yourself lucky," Bert said to which I smiled.

Wes made me get up so that he could go to the restroom. When he came back, I refused to get up to let him sit under me. Wes just shrugged before sitting on top of me.

"Wes-"

"You do it to me."

"That's different. Get up."

He eventually moved to the armrest, which I was fine with. It didn't look comfortable though.

"What do you guys want to do until the party?" Bert asked.

"This," Wes said, messing with my hair. Annabel and Owen were both whispering things to each other and didn't seem to care about us at all.

Bert groaned, standing. "Post high school relationships suck."

"It's knowing that they'll inevitably end in divorce that makes it that way," his brother told him as he walked out of the room.

I pushed Wes, but he just smiled at me. "Wes."

"What? I'm gonna need a super hot first wife."

"Seriously, stop."

"Don't worry. When we're eighty and have gone through five marriages, we'll get back together. Maybe a civil union this time. You know. Keep it topical."

"I will push you off that armrest."

Wes just laughed at my threat…until he was on the ground.

"That was so immature," he told me, standing up.

"You're the one that decided to go younger," I told him as I stood. Now that I had had my fun with him, I let him sit back down in the chair, me in his lap once more.

"Yeah, yeah. Now be quiet."

I elbowed him hard this time, making him rub his chest. He wrapped an arm around my waist, sighing a little. Owen and Annabel got up and went out back, leaving Wes and I alone. We were making out when my phone rang. He pulled it out of my pocket.

"Your sister," he said before answering. "Hello? Yeah. Hey. No. She's not here. Nope. Bye." He hung up before trying to kiss me again. I moved my head, making him frown.

"Why did you tell her I wasn't here?"

"How do you know that it was you she was asking about? Maybe she was worried about Kristy. Or Annabel. Or Monica."

"Wes."

"We're busy." He ran a hand through my hair. "Really busy."

I shirted around in his lap, trying to get comfortable again, but now I couldn't. Instead, I stood up and made him follow me to the bedroom.

"Why'd we have to move? We have today and three more days. I don't have enough condoms if this keeps up."

"Shut up," I told him, laying down.

"Remember, Mace, safe sex is great sex. Though, I suppose the thrill of the unexpected makes it more fun."

"Shut up, I'm serious."

"How come I got hit when I told you to shut up?"

"Because you were ordering me around."

"What exactly do you call what you do to me?"

"Suggestions."

"Well, I suggest that you stop telling me what to do so often." He laid down next to me, though it quickly became over me.

"Why?"

"I just might get in the habit of," he leaned in close to my ear, "not listening."

"I wouldn't notice much difference anyways."

* * *

When we got to the party, it was in full swing. Which, honestly, was thanks to Kristy. She took two hours to get ready. I really didn't like her final outfit, but Wes told me that if I mentioned it to her and he got stuck waiting for another hour, he'd kill me. Since I enjoy living so much, I decided to listen to him.

"Do you think I picked the right hat?" Bert asked me as we pulled up the place.

"Regardless, we're here now."

"So no?"

Monotone refused to walk to the place, so Wes, Bert, and I drove with her to it. Kristy walked with Annabel and Owen. I warned them that this would only prove to ruin their opinion of her, but they said that they already had too low an opinion for it to drop any. When I asked Kristy why she wanted to walk, she said that it would go with her look, being slightly sweaty. Maybe she thinks the smell of her sweat will attract Mr. Everything.

"You look fine," I told him, climbing out of the truck. The house that the party was at was huge. Great. We'll never find Mr. Everything. Bert ran off to go find beer while Wes and I hung around the truck, waiting for Kristy. Monica stayed close by, chain smoking.

"So…What do you want to do?"

I shrugged, staring down the road, hoping that Kristy would hurry up so that we could go look for Eli. The sooner this was over, the sooner we could go back to the beach house. Wes was kind of mad at me right now because I honestly had no plans of having sex again, while he did. Yet, here I am, stuck with him again. I was starting to wish that I had just walked with the others.

"Well, we could be back at the beach house, doing what I wanted to do, but instead, we're here. So, what do you want to do?"

"Wes, you wanted to be here, not me."

"Oh? I did? I think I wanted to have sex and you wanted to come."

"No. You wanted to come from the beginning."

"Not if we were having sex!"

Two guys walking by laughed at us, but Wes didn't seem to care. I pushed by him and walked off, heading into the house. I saw Bert showing off his hat to some way older woman, and had to smile a little. After he broke up with his girlfriend a few months ago, he had been really sad. Maybe the summer would bring him a new relationship. Not with any of these women though, but here's to dreaming.

"Hey, it's you."

I groaned as I made it into the nearly empty kitchen, only to come face to face with the drunk.

"Do you go everywhere?" I asked him, frowning a little.

"Do you?"

"I asked you first." I walked around him to some cans of coke. Wes thought that I had been drinking too much recently.

"I live here in Colby. I go to all parties."

"I'm staying for the week. I have to do something while I'm here."

"You could give me that chick's number."

"You're sober this time, so there's no excuse for being a douche."

"Ooh, spicy. Maybe it's your number I should be trying to get."

"Boyfriend."

"Every girl has one. Doesn't mean anything these days."

"Well, it does to me. And that friend has one too."

"The punching guy?"

"Yeah."

"Then I'll leave that one alone," he said, stepping closer to me. "Besides, she's not nearly as hot as you."

Rolling my eyes, I turned to see Wes come into the kitchen. When he saw me, he made his way over.

"Hey, if we're fighting, at least stick around so that we can finish it."

"Leave me alone."

"No."

"She said to leave her alone," Jake said, deciding to make his presence known to Wes. He just made a face before looking back at me.

"Anyways, Mace, Kristy's here and she's ready to look for Eli."

"You mean Mr. Everything?"

"No. I refuse to call another man-"

"Eli? My Eli?" Jake smiled at me. "I can take you and whoever Kristy is to him. Not him though."

Wes rolled his eyes before grabbing my arm. "Come on, Macy. Something smells really bad in here. Kind of like…a loser that got his ass kicked."

"Wes-"

"Bet you wouldn't say that to my face," Jake challenged back, bucking up. I sighed, pulling my arm from Wes.

"You stay and fight with him. I don't care. I'm going to find Kristy," I said before going out the backdoor. "Or come with me. Your choice."

I found Kristy with Mr. Everything. Owen and Annabel were nowhere to be found though, so I just walked across the yard to Kristy.

"-all this time and he was seeing Monica behind my back. Only it wasn't her fault, because she didn't realize that he was the same John that I was talking about. And then-"

"Hey, Kristy," I said, coming to stand next to her. Eli, who was staring into his beer, looked up. When he saw it was just me, he looked back down.

"Hey." She looked at me before looking behind me. "Where's Wes?"

"He's fighting with that drunk guy from-"

"Oh no." Eli took off running for the house, screaming for Jake. Kristy made a face at me.

"Thanks, Macy."

"I didn't know that he would assume it was Jake."

"Is it?"

"Yes."

"And when did you become so buddy buddy with all of them that you know their names?"

"I'm just observant. And are you going to go after him or what?"

"No. He'll come back. He'll want to know the end to my story."

"I've heard the John story before. You should just follow him."

She made a face at me as I watched Wes come out the back door. He looked around, presumably for me, but when he couldn't find me, kept walking. I almost called out to him, but stopped myself. He was the one that was acting like a jerk.

When Eli resurfaced, he walked right past us, dragging his brother along with him. Kristy immediately set out to find out where they were going and I went with her, if only because he was going in the same direction that Wes had gone.

"Where are we going, Eli?"

"Home. At least you are."

Jake groaned. "You have to take me. I gotta suspended license."

"I can't. I'm busy."

"Talking to them?"

He glanced behind him to see us following him. "No. Look, you're going home."

"Eli-"

"Unless you can leave that guy and any of his friends alone. Do not mess with any of the those girls that were there when you got hit either. Just mess with your usual ones and stay out of trouble. Alright?"

"Okay."

"Now get lost." He let go of his brother and stopped walking, but I kept on, seeing Wes over by his truck.

"Hey," I said, leaving Kristy behind with Eli. "Are you leaving?"

"No," he said, letting down the tailgate before sitting on it. "Are you?"

"No," I said, cautiously sitting down next to him. "Did you hurt Jake?"

"No. Quit referring to these guys by name."

"Why? Are you jealous?"

"No," he said slowly. "They're not our friends."

"Eli's nice."

"You think everyone's nice."

"Not everyone."

"No," he agreed. "Not everyone."

"We've said no more in the past minute than all day."

"N…yeah."

I leaned against him, staring back at the house. From the lights inside, I could see Kristy standing next to Eli, no doubt finishing her story. Sighing a little, I closed my eyes.

"We could totally ditch this place and go get something to eat. You hungry?"

"A little," I mumbled. "But I want to stay."

"Why?"

"In case Kristy needs me."

"For?"

"To help her with Mr. Everything if she needs it."

"You think she will?"

"Need me? If she keeps telling those boring stories, yes."

"No. I meant help them get together."

"Do you guys even know if he wants to be with her?"

"At this point, I don't think that it matters."

I felt Wes wrap his arm around my shoulders, sighing. I think he was going to say something, but suddenly a car pulled up beside us, making us both look up. I yawned, watching a bunch of women get out of the car. Another one got out much slower and began to walk towards the house. I turned my attention back to Kristy as she yelled out Eli's name. But he was running towards the girl that had jus stepped out of the car. He met her not a few feet in front of us.

"Hey."

She just stood there, not speaking. They were right in front of the back of the truck, giving us a not only a good view, but also a great chance to eavesdrop.

"Maggie said that you were coming to see Thisbe before you left for Europe."

"Yeah," the woman said curtly, clearly mad about something.

"Well I told her to get you to come here so that we could talk. I knew you wouldn't meet me at my place and your mom would probably arrange for my murder if I showed up at her house."

"Probably."

"So…now we can talk."

"Eli-"

"And I think that…I've been a douche. I mean, I do think that you should spend time with me this summer instead of leaving to go be with your mother, but if you want to go, go. I can't stop you."

"I know that you can't."

"And even though I'm going to be here with the same old people while you're out meeting guys, European guys, I'll just seethe silently here, until you get back."

"Alright."

"And I don't want you to think that we're over. Because we're not. I'm not going to be messing around with anyone. I haven't been messing around with anyone. At all. And I hope that you haven't been."

I glanced at Wes, but he was pretending to be preoccupied with his watch.

"I haven't."

"Then go."

"I am."

"And when you get back, you'll go back to school, and things will go back to normal."

"Fine."

"So you know that while you're with your mom that you're still with me, right? You're not going to come home with some French guy? Or British guy?"

"No."

He kissed her head. "Good. When do you leave?"

"Three days."

"Can you stay with me until then?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then." Eli kissed her on the lips this time, rather deeply before taking a step back. "Go get in my truck. I have to go find Jake. Some tourist dicks have been messing with him."

She kissed him quickly before starting to walk away.

"Oh, and one more things."

She turned to look at him. "What?"

"I love you, Auden."

"I love you too."

As he ran off to go find Jake and she went to go find his truck, I got up to go talk to Kristy. She was still standing in the same place and just let Eli run past her. He didn't even look at her. Guess he doesn't want to hear the end of the John story...

"So…you saw that?" I asked her as I approached.

"And heard parts, yeah. I guess he wasn't Mr. Everything."

I felt someone staring at me and looked back towards the Wes, who was still waiting for me by the truck. The lights in the house caused the shadows to hide him from me, but I knew that it was him watching.

"Yeah," I agreed with her. "He's not Mr. Everything."

"Maybe someone already has my Mr. Everything."

"Maybe," I said. "Still, it's kind of early to decide that."

"No. Eli was Mr. Everything for me."

"But not Mr. Extraordinary."

"Maybe not, but he could have been."

"He seems to be in love with Auden."

"You just know everyone, don't you?" Kristy sighed before beginning to walk. "I'm going back in there. Colby has to have some guy that's right for me. That one, Wallace was it? He was cute."

I just shook my head, watching her go back into the house before I walked off to, back to my own boyfriend.

"She okay?"

I nodded as I sat back down next to him. "Fine."

"Good."

"Yeah."

He patted me on the head. "I told you that Eli wasn't any good for her."

"Oh, like you predicted this."

"I did. I am very clairvoyant."

"I'm sure."

* * *

"Chicks dig hats, Macy."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure, Bert."

"They do. Don't you find me amazing in a hat?"

"Bert, shut up," Wes said. We were both on the couch, talking to Bert about his night. Apparently, he thinks that his hats were a hit.

"I like your hats, Bert," Kristy told him. She was in the chair, half listening to us, half reading a magazine. "Monica does too."

"Mmmhmm."

Owen and Annabel had yet to get back and we were all waiting up for them. Kristy said that when they got to the party, Owen mentioned something about recognizing someone, but she didn't really care, so she didn't ask questions.

"I wonder where they are," I mumbled, pushing my boyfriend's arm away when he wrapped it around my neck.

"What?" Wes asked, frowning.

"You stink."

"I do not."

"You need a shower."

"Well then." He kissed my cheek. "You've been really rude recently."

"Just honest."

"I don't appreciate it."

"Owen would. He loves honesty."

"Well, you're not with him, you're with me."

Bert came and sat down on the other side of Wes. "Tonight was the best night ever."

"Yeah, because you weren't stuck with Macy all night."

"Wes."

"Kidding." He kissed my head. I squirmed a little, moving away. Wes just smiled at me.

"At least you didn't find out that your Mr. Everything already had a Ms. Amazing."

"Or maybe she was Mrs. Everything," Bert offered up. I don't know if he was trying to be helpful or annoying, but I was leaning towards the latter.

"Shut up," Kristy said, making a face at him. "I just felt like me and Eli made a real connection with each other."

"You didn't even know his name until today," I pointed out.

"Since when are names important?"

Kristy eventually went to bed, taking Monica with her. Bert hung around for awhile before he too called it a night.

"We should go to bed soon," I told Wes. He shook his head.

"I wanted to talk to Owen, but if they don't show up in the next twenty minutes, we can."

They didn't, so we just went to bed. Around four in the morning, I heard the front door close, waking me up. I listened as Annabel laughed loudly, though she was quickly shushed by Owen. They're voices were soft after that and eventually nonexistent.

"If you're going to spy on them, do it now before I fall back asleep."

I pushed Wes. "I'm not."

"Good." He kissed my head. "Your amount of interest in him has me worried."

"Not in him."

"Sorry. In their relationship."

"I am not, Wes."

"Right. It's either one or the other."

"Whatever."

He rolled onto his back. "Just sleep, Mace. You know the day we get back that we get to start our week of babysitting for Avery and Lucy."

"Yeah."

"We'll need our rest."

"Kids are annoying."

He chuckled slightly, closing his eyes again. "Very."


	5. Chapter 5

Graduation Trip

Chapter 5

"So you just have to tell each other the truth?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Any question the other asks, you have to tell the truth. Like Truth or Dare, just without the second option."

Owen frowned. "Why don't you just tell the truth all the time?"

"Who does that?"

"Me."

"You tell the truth?"

"Yes."

"All the time?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"How do I know that you're not just lying right now?"

"Because you trust that I'm telling the truth."

"What if someone doesn't trust you?"

"Then how would you play your game, Macy?" Owen went back to his laptop. "You're trusting that they're telling the truth, right?"

"Yeah, but that's a game."

"Life is a game."

"A horrible one."

He raised an eyebrow. 'You? I figured yours was pretty alright."

"The game. I meant LIFE. The Game of Life."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Shrugging, Owen began to type. "So is that what you and Wes always to with each other?"

"Play LIFE?"

"No. Truth."

"Well, yeah."

"So it's your thing."

"Our thing?"

"Yeah. Like…the special thing you do with each other. That's how you know that you're in a serious relationship. You have something that's just for the two of you."

"What do you and Annabel do?"

"We do a lot of things."

"Like?"

"We go to carwashes and listen to music."

And he was questioning Truths?

"Do you do anything that doesn't involve music?"

"Well, recently, every night we call each other."

"Normal people do that."

"Neither of us answers though, just leaves a message on the other person's phone."

"Why?"

"It's just our thing."

"What do you say?"

"Whatever we haven't already told each other that day. Or if we're fighting, it helps to let the other person know what the one is thinking without interrupting."

"You guys fight a lot?"

"Enough. You and Wes?"

"Well…we used to. Not so much recently."

"Me and Bella do a lot, I guess. She just gets really mad when I get upset and do something stupid."

"She cares about you."

"Yes," he said, nodding. "She loves me."

The way he said it was odd to me. I just always figured that talking about love or even mentioning it was foreign to them. Wes had told me that he loved me before about three times. And really, since it was so rare, it just made it so much more special. But the sheer honesty that Owen had when he said it struck me too.

"I'm sure."

Owen closed his laptop before leaning back in his chair. "So do you play Truth with anyone else?"

"I have before, but not really. Everyone else thinks it's stupid."

"It is. Wanna play?"

"No. You just called it stupid."

"Honesty."

"That was just being mean and you know it."

"Well, if I've never played, I really can't pass judgment. So you wanna play?"

"Fine. You wanna go first?"

"You go. I don't know what kind of questions to ask."

I took a sip of my drink before setting it back down on the table in front of me. Wes, Kristy, and the others had all left me again when I overslept. Owen had too, though Annabel also just left without him.

"Well…I don't know…uh…How do you know Wes?"

"That? You get to ask me anything and you ask that?"

"Well, I was just wondering. I mean, you go to Jackson, right?"

"Yeah."

"He didn't."

"And?"

"You do not get to question the question, Owen. Just answer."

"Fine. One of his ex's went to my Anger Management classes."

"Oh."

He nodded. "Then he broke up with her and dated that chick he met at reform school."

"Becky."

Owen shrugged. "I never met her."

"So you're friends with his ex?"

"As shocking as this may seem, a lot of people don't like me."

"No, it's not that they don't like you. It's that they fear you."

"Oh? You know this how?"

I shook my head. "You're just so…muscular."

"I am not muscular."

"I was being nice. It's not like your fat. You're just…big. And you look mean. And you always have headphones in."

"So?"

"That makes you seem unapproachable."

"How?"

"How can someone talk to you if you can't hear them?"

He leaned back in his chair, staring at his laptop, which was blasting stupid music. We were once again out on the porch, waiting for our respective others to bring us back lunch.

"I never thought of it like that. Maybe I don't want to talk to other people."

"Probably not, subconsciously."

"Is that what you're here for? To study me?"

"No. I'm here because my boyfriend is being a jerk recently."

"Not really."

"You're just disagreeing because if you agree, that means that Annabel was a jerk too for leaving you."

"Actually, I didn't want to tell you this, but I was awake. Or at least she woke me up. I told her that I was still tired and to just let me sleep."

"So only I have the jerk for a boyfriend."

"I actually think that he forgot you."

"Even better."

"I mean, he and Kristy were talking about something and seemed really into their conversation."

I frowned. It's not that I thought that Kristy was after Wes or anything, because I didn't, it was just…I mean, she did have a thing for him before I did. So I'm sure if he reciprocated…though she is my friend so…I don't know.

"Oh."

"You say that a lot when ever I mention Wes talking to some other chick. Oh. Like it's a shocking statement that he's been with someone before you or has friends other than you."

I took a second to respond. "Okay, enough of that. Back to the game. It's your turn. Ask me something."

"Fine. Uh…What's up with that shit you used to talk about Annabel?"

That threw me for a second. He didn't seem to be angry with me, but rather curious. I just stared at him.

"I really don't know what you're talking about."

"You must. She's mentioned you before."

"I don't know why. What did she say?"

He shrugged. "Stuff. You hang out with some bitches."

"Honestly, except for this past year, I have been pretty out of it in school. Since my dad…passed. If I'm hanging out with someone that's starting shit with her, then I'll apologize to her, I guess."

"Don't."

"Why, Mr. Honesty?"

"There you go again, turning my words on me."

"Why, Owen?"

"She didn't exactly tell me anything. I…observed it while at school."

"Mr. Honesty isn't telling his girlfriend something?"

"It's no secret that I know that those girls mess with her. If she asked, I would gladly tell her."

"Sounds an awful lot like withholding the truth."

"It doesn't matter anyways. That's why I thought that you haven't liked me all this time."

"What do you mean?"

"I took care of it."

"…How?"

Owen sighed. "Does this count as your question?"

"Sure."

"I told them to shut the fuck up. That's why I got suspended the last week of school."

"What? They went and told on you?" Now I was racking my brain, trying to think of who he could possibly be talking about.

"No. I told them in class. They were talking again in my homeroom. I told them to shut the fuck up or else I'd deal with them in my own way. Apparently, that's a threat."

"Apparently."

"You sure they're not your friends?"

"I don't know, Owen. Who?"

"Uh…it starts with an A…Amanda. Yes, Amanda and Bethany."

I just stared at him. "You think…no. God, no."

"Really? I saw you guys together before I thought-"

"They were friends with my ex, sort of. I worked with them at the library. They in no way are my friends. They hate me. Probably more than they hate Annabel."

He pulled off one of his rings and rolled it in his hands. "Annabel thinks that I got suspended for something else. I'm not sure what. You know how people just spread shit around the school."

"Yeah, I know."

"I wasn't even allowed to go to graduation."

"Seriously?"

"I got my diploma and everything, I just wasn't allowed to walk."

"I didn't like it that much, graduation."

"No one does. Well, Bella did kind of because her older sister came down for it."

"My mom and sister came, but after we had an open house to get to."

"After I just went with Annabel's family to dinner. My mom allowed that, if only because Mrs. Greene wanted me to go."

"I thought that she hates you?"

"She doesn't hate me," he said with a face. "She just doesn't like me. Currently."

"What are you planning to do to get back on her good side?"

"I just give it time. As long as Bella doesn't mention me punching that guy down here-"

"See, for an honest person, you sure do hide a lot of stuff."

"I don't see it that way. Annabel might be a liar and that's between her and her family."

"I don't know. You seem kind of shady."

"Shady," he repeated. "I'm shady."

"You seem like a cheater," I said, now just poking fun at him.

"I am not a cheater. I would never do that. Ever."

"Chill, Owen, it was a joke."

He reached over and typed something into his computer and the song changed.

"I'm just saying that I wouldn't."

"I wouldn't expect you to."

"Good. Now is it my turn?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess it is. Go ahead."

"Why do Bethany and Amanda hate you?"

I sighed. Was he going to be stuck on this? "I don't know. I guess they just were mad that I was dating Jason. Oh, and they thought that I was too stupid to even grace their presence."

"You? Stupid?"

I shrugged. "I'm sure everyone's stupid in another person's eyes."

"Nah, not you. You're going to college, huh?"

"Yeah. Are you?"

He shook his head. "No. I think I'm going to stay around here for awhile."

"Is Annabel going?"

"Yeah."

"So you guys will be apart?"

"At times. It's alright though. We can deal."

"I'm sure you can."

"Your sarcasm has gotten old."

"No, I'm serious," I told him, frowning. "I mean, you sure do enough for her. I never hear about you getting in trouble for yourself. It's just clear that you really care about her. That's rare, for the guy to be the caring one. And for it to be a guy like you-"

"What do you mean?"

"You just seem like you would be…cold."

"Better to see than actually be."

I didn't know if Owen knew me enough yet to know anything about me and was taking a dig, or he was trying to make some other sort of joke. That's all that jokes really are anyways, interpretation.

"Yeah, I guess so."

He smiled at me and I smiled back at him. Then my cell rang and I had to answer it.

"What, Wes?"

"…I just wanted to know if you wanted a burger or what?"

"Yeah, that's fine." I glanced over at Owen, who was now on his laptop again. "You want me to ask Owen what he wants?"

"No. Annabel says she already knows."

"Oh, right, that's probably because he got woken up and asked if he wanted to go."

Wes groaned. "Macy, I didn't wake you up because you would have gone whether you were tired or not."

"And? I'm not a kid, Wes."

"When you're at home over the summer, you still have to wake up early every day. I just figured this week should be about sleeping late for you."

"Then why didn't you stay with me?"

"Because all summer I will be sleeping in. I went running this morning."

"Still. Before you left, you could have told me that you were leaving."

"Then you would have tried to come, we would have had to wait, and we all know that you take forever to do everything."

"Oh? I take forever?"

"Yeah."

"Who almost missed my graduation because they couldn't…what were you doing again?"

"That's different. I was finishing your graduation present. I could have, gee, just not given it to you."

"All those stupid statues you have in your yard and you had to make me one?"

"…I don't like where you're taking this conversation. You want to talk about stupid? Because there's plenty stupid shit that you've done."

"Don't curse at me, Wes."

"And don't expect lunch from me, Macy."

When I hung up, Owen pretended not to notice that I was upset. I took a deep breath before speaking.

"You want to go out to lunch?"

* * *

"So where did you and Annabel go last night?"

"One question and you use that?"

"There will be more questions."

"How do you know? How does this game end?"

"Well…when Wes and I play, we say that if you refuse to answer a question and it's asked back to the other person and they answer, they win."

"But what if the question doesn't apply?"

"…Don't poke holes in this. The real way is if you don't answer, but the other person answers a question, they win."

"Then prepare to lose, Macy, because I always tell the truth. Who wins more? You or Wes?"

"Really, we only ended a game once and I won."

"Once? You're more truthful that I thought."

"It's turned less into a game and more into conversations." I sighed, pushing around some stuff on my plate. We had gone to some Mexican restaurant, because Last Chance was so out of the question. "We do it all the time."

"Do you call each other and do it too?"

"Oh, yeah. Sometimes we do it until we fall asleep." I blushed a little at that, but Owen was just staring at me. "Don't you and Annabel ever do that?"

"No."

"Oh."

"There you go with oh again."

I made a face at him. "Anyways, you never answered my question."

"What was it again?"

"Where did you guys disappear to after the party?"

"Oh. Well, Kristy was annoying the whole walk there and when we got to the house, I saw some guys from a band I knew. I told Kristy, but I don't think that she was listening."

"Probably not."

"Why doesn't she like us again?"

"I don't know, really. I think though that she just doesn't like your music."

"That's no reason to be rude to Annabel or me."

"I know."

"Especially Annabel. She doesn't like my music either."

"You sure are worried about Annabel getting along with other girls constantly."

"She gets real nervous around people that she doesn't know. I just try to make her friends."

"You can't force someone to be friends with your girlfriend."

"I can try."

"At the very least, you can threaten them not to talk shit about her."

"Exactly."

When the check came, Owen paid for me. He claimed the reason that he wanted to was because I had allowed him and Annabel to come with us on the trip when I didn't have to. He had to pay me back somehow. I let him, if only because I didn't know how to tell him no.

When we got back to the beach house, the others were there. Owen had texted Annabel and told her not to bring him food, but I hadn't Wes and he was clearly pissed at me.

"Where were you?" Wes was sitting on the porch steps when we walked up. He stood, clearly pissed at me. "I called."

"My phone died."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

He crossed his arms as Owen and I walked up. "And where did you go?"

"Just to eat," I told him as Owen walked passed him and went in. I stopped in front of him. "Why are you so mad?"

"You know why."

"No."

"I was waiting here for you."

"And? I was waiting for you this morning."

He let out a slow breath. "Still. You did it to get back at me. I was trying to let you sleep."

"Maybe I didn't want to sleep."

"Macy, knock it off."

"Wes, it's not that serious, alright? What? Are you going to stay mad at me?"

"Maybe," he said, staring at me.

"Fine. I have better things to do than deal with you anyways."

"Good."

"Good." I shoved passed him and going back into the house.

* * *

"What's your biggest fear?"

"Righ' now? Runnin' out of beer," I told Owen, turning my can over only to find out that it was completely empty. He just smiled at me. "I'mma go get another."

"I think you've had enough."

"You don't know me."

"I know that. I could know you, if you would keep playing."

"Playin'?"

"The game. I asked you a question."

"Oh!" I moved to lay on the ground. "Fear…Spiders."

"Really?"

"Yeah." I closed my eyes because the sun made my head hurt. "Wes kills 'em for me now…not now! I hate him."

"Why?"

"He's mean."

"You didn't tell him that we were going somewhere, so that's on you."

I made a face at him. "I don't wanna play with you anymore."

"Macy, I just meant that you guys clearly have some sort of pent up anger with each other. Every few hours, you're fighting and then making up. Either you're both childish or your both really scared."

"Scared?"

"Yes."

"Of?"

"Losing each other. At the end of summer, you're leaving and he's staying. That has to be scary to you."

"How do ya know?"

"I could tell by the way you spoke about it at lunch." Owen, who was sitting with his back pressed up against the house, said, "It's okay that the two of you are scared. That's a big relationship jump."

"What do ya know?"

"Not a lot, I'll give you that. You're the smart one. Drunk, but the smart one."

I just groaned as Wes and Bert came outside.

"Are you okay?" Bert asked, walking closer.

"Mace, are you sick? Why did you just let her lay here, Owen?" Wes got onto his knees next to me and felt my head. "Macy?"

I swatted his hand away. "Stop."

"She's drunk, not sick," Owen told him. "All she's done is drink since we got back from lunch."

"No." I opened my eyes just to glare at him. "Wes, bring me a beer."

"What? No."

"Bert?"

He started to go back in to get one, but his brother said, "No, Bert."

I frowned. "Yes, Bert."

"No."

"Yes."

"Bert, I'm your brother. Do not give her anymore alcohol. You can have water, Macy."

Bert hung by the door, seeming uncertain.

"There's a twenty in my room that says yes, Bert."

He shrugged at his brother. "Sorry. Money talks, Wes."

"You little brat. She's not drinking anymore." Wes tried to lift me up off the ground, but I swatted his arms away. "Macy, let me take you inside."

"Why?"

"You can't just sleep out here."

"Not sleepin', Wes. I'm talkin' to Owen."

"I would really appreciate if the two of you stop doing that for the time being, actually."

Owen frowned, but said nothing as I finally let Wes help me stand. I almost fell and busted my face on my mom's favorite chair though, so he just tossed me over his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Kristy, who was at the stove in the kitchen, asked. "Is Macy okay? Are you?"

"Yes."

"No," Wes called to her as he headed to our bedroom. Annabel, who was on the couch reading a book, stared at us as we walked by, but said nothing. Wes gave her a nod, but also kept his mouth shut.

When he got to our room, he put me down on the bed, slammed me really, before yanking the covers down.

"That hurt, Wes."

"Shut up."

"No."

"Now I have to tuck you in, like a little kid, because you fucking act like a little kid."

"No."

"Shush." He pulled the blankets back up around me. "There. Now go to sleep."

"I'm on your side. I don't wanna be. Your pillow smells bad."

"Get used to it, because I'm about to hold it over your head."

I crossed my arms. "Why ya mad at me?"

"You drank too much and now have ruined anything that I had planned tonight."

"Like wha'?"

"Nothing, just go to sleep. Now." He kissed my head. "If you need to puke, call me. Do not fall and hurt yourself. I don't feel like dealing with your mom being mad about you breaking something."

When Wes left, suddenly the room seemed dark. Then I realized my eyes were closed. I tried to get up, but I felt too sleepy, so I just went to bed.

* * *

When I woke up, a few hours had passed and once again, nearly everyone was gone. Annabel was there though, making dinner.

"Finally up?" She asked as I walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah," I said, going to get a coke. "I've got a headache though.'

"I'm making mac'n'cheese if you want some."

"Thanks." I sat down at the table, sighing. "Where is everyone?"

"Owen and Bert went to go buy something. A shirt to match one of his hats or something. Then Wes and Kristy went out to eat and Monica might have gone with them, but I'm not sure. She doesn't really talk that much."

"Kristy does enough for both of them."

"They do seem close. Or at least Kristy makes them seem close."

"They've gone through a lot together," I said, laying my head down on the table. "Though, I guess we all have. Gone through stuff, I mean. Wait, I don't know you like that. I've heard stuff, but…I mean…I don't hang out with Bethany and Amanda."

Annabel didn't look away from the stove. "Who?"

"You…Owen…Never mind."

I expected her to ask me what I meant, but Annabel just acted as if the conversation never happened. When she finished making dinner, she got me a bowl and brought it to me. I mumbled thanks, but just picked at my food. Annabel sat down next to me and ate quietly for a few minutest before getting up and going over to the cabinet.

"Here," she said, coming back over to me with a bottle of aspirin

"Thanks," I mumbled, taking it from her. Annabel nodded before sitting back down. Other than that, we said nothing to each other the rest of the night.

When Wes and the other's got back, I was in the shower. The second that I stepped out of the bathroom though, I was drug to Kristy's room.

"What?" I complained as she made me sit down on the bottom bunk with her. Monica, who was sitting on her sleeping back filing her nails, glanced at me, but said nothing.

"What happened with you and Wes?"

"What are you talking about?"

"All he did was bitch about you at dinner," Kristy told me, pulling her hair back into a ponytail.

"Mmmhmm," Monica agreed.

"What did he say?"

"That's not important."

"I think it is."

"What's important is why he was so mad."

"I don't know."

"Yes, you do."

"Apparently you do, so just tell me."

Kristy just stared at me. "Tell me what's going on with you and Mr. Tall, Dark, and Brooding."

"…I thought that we found out that he got back with that Auden chick?"

"Not, Mr. Everything. I was talking about Owen."

"Oh. I think we need a better person to come up with the nicknames."

"Macy."

"There's nothing going on. Why? Does Wes think there is?"

"I think that we all know there is."

"I was drunk and talking to him. So what? You guys were the ones that didn't come outside."

"Before that."

"When?"

"Every single night we've been here practically, you've stayed up with him."

"We've been here four nights, not including tonight."

"And you have two, right?"

"No. One. Right? I don't know. I don't keep count. There's hardly anything to even count."

"Doneven."

I glared at Monica. "What do you know anyways? If anyone's been disappearing, it's been you."

She went back to her nails.

"And," Kristy went on, "Wes said that the two of you went on a date."

"What? When?" I was not feeling well enough for this.

"Lunch. You two went out to lunch."

I rolled my eyes. "As friends. You guys all went out."

"As a group. You guys went alone. Together."

"It was not a date. I would have known if it was a date."

"You didn't even know that Wes liked you for the longest time."

"Owen is very happy with Annabel."

"Is he? Is he really?" Kristy looked to her sister. "He is, after all, taking Macy out on dates."

"Mmmhmm."

"You guys, it was not a date," I said, now slightly embarrassed. "We were just talking. I mean, he paid, but-"

"He paid? He _paid_?"

"Only because-"

"Macy, I can't believe you! This whole time, we thought you were little Ms. Perfect with Mr. Bad boy-"

"You really do suck at nicknames-"

"When the whole time, you were playing Wes. And with one of his friends."

"Shut up, Kristy. If they hear you-"

"They need to hear me! You're sneaking around with-"

The door opened and Bert came into the room. "Owen and I bought-"

"Get out," Kristy told him, but Bert just frowned.

"Fine. Whatever. I'll tell you later, I guess."

As soon as she was gone, Kristy said in a much softer tone, "You had better stay away from him."

"It's not like that, Kristy. We were just playing Truth-"

"Wait, not only did he pay, but you also played you and Wes's game together?"

When she laid it out like that, it seemed wrong, but I knew that there was no malice intent on the part of me or Owen. That's all that mattered. Right?

"Wes'."

"What?"

"Wes'. It wouldn't have been Wes's."

"This is not the time for a spelling lesson."

"Grammar, really."

"Macy, you're trying to change the subject. Are you going to tell Wes?"

"Tell him what?"

"That Owen paid?"

"Kristy-"

"Are you?"

"No, I don't think so."

"See? That proves it."

"What do you want me to say? Yes, I went out with Owen today. No, it wasn't a date. Yes, I played Truth with him. No, I didn't consider it the same as when I played with Wes. Because it wasn't. It was...different. We're different. I'm friends with him, I'm dating Wes."

"You started out friends with Wes."

"Owen has Annabel."

"Wes had Becky."

"They were on break. And I didn't know her. I know Annabel."

"How well?"

"Well enough. She's nice."

Kristy groaned. "You think that everyone is nice."

"You always say that. And it's not true. I don't think that...Jake's nice."

"Jake. The drunk. Amazing. You're a real judge of character, you."

I made a face at her as Monica got up and left to room, no doubt to smoke. Sighing, I looked past Kristy, at the dark wall. We hadn't turned on the lights and could only see from the moon shining through the window.

"I am not into Owen, Kristy. At all. I'm with Wes, I'm staying with Wes, and have no plans to leave Wes."

"Good." She smiled at me. "Owen is a major step down from Wes anyways. I mean, I would have to take you to a shrink if that ever happened."

Bert came back into the room again. "Can I stay?"

Kristy sighed. "Fine, I guess."

I stood and walked out of the room, headed to my own. I was in the hall, passing the living room, when I heard Owen and Annabel talking. Wes was right. For some reason, I did like spying on the two of them. I peaked into the living room, but it was dark and I couldn't see anything.

"Yeah, she sure did get drunk this afternoon."

I heard Owen laugh. "Yeah. I like her though. She's…alright. I mean, she's better than Kristy."

"Kristy just hates us for some reason."

"Macy said that it's my music."

"Maybe." I heard a blanket rustle and the couch squeak. "Wes seemed really mad at us today too."

"Not us. Me. And Macy. I think."

"Why?"

"I don't really know. We went to lunch and came back and he was mad. I think that it was because she didn't call and tell him."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I paid for her and everything, you know, to make up for them putting up with us."

"That was nice of you."

"I just feel bad, like we're in the way."

"We only have tomorrow and then we leave, right?"

"Yep."

"They can deal with us for that long."

"Not us, me."

"They don't like me either. Or at least they don't pretend to." Annabel moved again and the couch squeaked.

"Hey, Bella?"

"What?"

"Remember how I told you that I got suspended for getting into a fight? Well, I didn't tell you, but you assumed?"

"Yes."

""Well…There are these two girls, Bethany and Amanda, who were saying things about you and I told them to shut the fuck up. That's why I got suspended."

"…Why are you telling me this now?"

"I felt like I was lying. You know I don't like that."

"Macy said something about them. I didn't really get what she was talking about though."

"I mentioned it to her."

"She's nice."

"Who? Macy?"

"Yeah."

I heard him kiss her. "So are you."

Suddenly, I felt someone tug me back, away from the doorway of the living room. I would have probably screamed, had a hand not been placed over my mouth.

"You," Wes whispered harshly in my ear, "have got to leave them alone."

I let him drag me to our bedroom, where he finally let me go.

"W-"

"Shut up." He left the room again and I went ahead and changed for bed. When he got back, he just got into bed next to me, not saying anything.

"Wes-"

"I said to shut the fuck up."

"You are not going to-"

"Shut up. I mean it."

I tried to get up, but he just reached over and held me down.

"Wes, let me go."

"No. Go to sleep, Macy. We'll talk later, alright? I'm not going to talk to you when I'm mad."

"Then let me go and I'll go sleep somewhere else."

"Like where? The living room?"

I frowned. "No. My mother's room."

He let go of my arm. "Fine. Go."

He knew that I wouldn't. I knew that I wouldn't. Instead, I just put my back to him, which really wasn't odd. We weren't very cuddly or affectionate if it didn't have to do with kissing. We weren't one of those couples that had to hold each other. That was odd for both of us.

"Don't I at least get a goodnight?"

Wes didn't say anything for a long time and I was almost asleep when he whispered goodnight to me. I barely heard him, but it helped me sleep, if only because I knew that he wasn't that mad at me. That was good.


	6. Chapter 6

Graduation Trip

Chapter 6

I woke up early the next morning to Owen's music. I laid there, trying to resist my interest in going to check it out, but I couldn't. It's not fair anyways, me having to ignore Owen because Wes is jealous. And I don't even know if he really is or if Kristy has just poisoned my opinion on the topic.

"Wes." I pushed his shoulder, but he just shoved me away. "Wes-"

"What?"

"You wanna get up?"

"No."

"Go run?"

"No, Macy."

"Well, I'm getting up."

"Whatever."

I got out of bed and changed clothes before going to find out where Owen was. Like always, he was out back, sitting in the chair he always sat in.

"Hey," I said, coming to sit across from him.

Owen glanced up at me before putting his finger to his mouth. That's when I noticed that he was on the phone.

"No, Mallory, I can't. No. I'll be back soon. Yes. I promise." He turned down the music on his laptop. "Yeah. Annabel got you some seashells…I know that you're not a little kid. I think that they are very cool…Whatever, Mallory. No. Alright. I'll get you something else before we leave. Bye."

It was silent for a second before he turned back on his music.

"That was my sister," he told me.

"The one that's obsessed with Annabel?"

"Well, yeah." He smiled at me. "She got sick last year though and is kind of mad at me right now."

"Why?"

"She wants to hangout all the time. She didn't want me to go to Colby." He changed the song on his laptop. "I told her it was only a week and if she needed me, I took the Land Cruiser so I could be there really quickly."

Annabel, as always, came out there to see what we were doing after a few minutes. Owen ripped his bagel in half and handed her some.

"What's up with you? Why'd you come out here?"

"I got cold."

He smiled. "My sister called."

"Just now?"

"Yeah."

"Is she okay? Why is she up so early? Did she say-"

"Annabel, chill. She just wanted to talk to me."

"But why is she up?"

"I don't know."

She grabbed his cell off the table and immediately hit redial. "Hey, Mal, it's me. Yeah. No. Because he didn't tell me that you called. I texted you the other day. Oh, I didn't know you were at the doctor all day. Yes. No. Why are you up anyways?" Annabel paused for the first time before getting up and walking back inside.

"It was kind of my freaking phone," Owen said, frowning.

"Your sister and Annabel seem close."

"I guess they are."

"She's the youngest, right?"

"Who? Bella? Yeah."

"Then she probably likes having someone younger than her to deal with. I always thought it'd be cool to have a little brother or sister."

Owen took a sip of his coke before responding. "Maybe that's why you baby Bert."

"I do not."

"Yes, you do. He's not that much younger than you, yet you act like he's twelve."

"No."

"Whatever you say."

"I don't."

"I'm agreeing."

Annabel came back outside, holding Owen's phone in her hand. "Here."

He took it, though he then grabbed her arm and pulled her into his lap. "Why did she say that she was up?"

"None of your business."

"Bella."

"It's not."

"She's my sister."

"And?" She grabbed the rest of his bagel. "Do we have any plans tonight?"

"I would like to think that you'd want to hangout alone."

"Kristy said there was a party-"

"What good did the last party do us?"

"We had fun."

"Only because we met up with some of my friends."

"We're going, Owen."

He leaned back in the chair, shifting a little from her still being in his lap. "You could sit in your own chair."

"You made me sit here."

"Then. Now I'm mad at you."

She rolled her eyes before grabbing his coke. "The party is tonight, Owen. If you want to do something now, we can. We're up, anyways."

"I have to go out and find Mallory something else. Apparently, sea shells aren't cool."

"Fine. We can go out to lunch and buy her something."

"Alright." Owen looked back at me. "What are the rest of you guys doing today?"

"I don't know. They'll probably ditch me anyways."

Annabel frowned at me. "I told Wes to let you sleep. Sorry. He said that you probably wanted to and I told him to go ahead, that I was leaving Owen behind anyways. I figured you guys could hangout. I didn't know that Wes would flip out like that."

"He's stupid, sometimes."

"Jealous for no reason," Owen mumbled, which got him elbowed by his girlfriend. "What? He talked to me after you passed out drunk, Macy. Because clearly I decided to let Rolly run Anger Management for a Sunday, leave my sister behind, so that I could get with you. And I brought my girlfriend along. Sometimes he's a complete douche."

"Owen, stop."

"No, Annabel. He's been an ass to me for no reason."

"That probably happens when one person is better looking in the relationship."

Owen frowned. "If you're trying to talk about me-"

"No. I meant you, Macy," she said, nodding at me. I know that she wasn't calling me out right now. Seriously?

I sighed. "Yeah, I know. Everyone thinks he's so great."

"He? I'm talking about you, not Wes."

"What?"

Owen stared at me. "You're kidding, right? You or Wes?"

"Stop trying to make me feel better, guys. It's not working."

"We're not kidding," Annabel said as she got out of Owen's lap. "You and Kristy are the only people I've ever seen that pay attention to him."

"Please, at parties everyone's looking at him. All the girls."

Owen looked at Annabel and she shrugged. He laughed. "Maybe they're looking at you. Women do tend to be jealous over each other."

I had never thought about this. Because it was complete bull.

"Wes is way better looking than me."

"Then why is he always so jealous? He clearly isn't secure because you're hotter than him. After all, I always tell the truth," Owen told me. I glanced at Annabel before back at him.

"So I guess Annabel is the better looking one out of the two of you?"

He frowned. "…Why?"

"She doesn't seem very jealous. At all. And you're basically hitting on me."

"Not really."

"I am, Owen, make no mistake," Annabel told him. "I'm going to go take a shower, alright?"

"Fine. But we're on an equal playing field."

"Oh, Owen, don't break your no lying record now. Especially over something so blatantly obvious."

"Annabel-"

"Shower," she said before walking inside.

"What?" Owen asked me when he noticed that I was staring at him.

"Nothing," I said, shifting my vision to the table. "It's just…I don't know."

"It's my turn in Truth, right?"

"Sure."

"Then why do you really think that Wes is better looking than you?"

"It's just how I've always seen it. You and Annabel are the only ones that think otherwise. And you don't count."

"Why not?"

"No guy ever calls another guy hot. Straight guy, I mean."

"I would if it were true. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with Wes, he's just not as…beautiful as you."

He was so hitting on me. I think. It's not something he wouldn't have said in front of Annabel, I'm sure, but that's also weird to me. Honestly though, their whole dynamic was weird to me.

"Not according to Kristy."

"Wes and Kristy have something weird going on," Owen told me, shrugging. "Him being jealous of me is stupid. You thinking a little bit about them would make more sense."

"So that's what you do out here? Talk shit about me to my girlfriend?" Wes came out of the house, frowning. "Seriously, Mace?"

I just looked away, not wanting to fight with him. Owen shrugged.

"I'm not talking shit. I'm telling the truth. And dude, I told you last night, don't fuck around with me, because I have no problem knocking you out."

"I let you come on this trip and you try to hook up with my girlfriend, but I'm fucking with you?"

"Believe me; I've got something way better than you do." Owen glanced at me. "No offence, Macy."

I just shrugged, refusing to take sides in this. Besides, maybe I did like Wes being jealous. Maybe it turned me on kind of. Maybe.

"What the fuck are you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to say that you need to back off, calm down, and realize that I don't want anything from your girlfriend. At all. Again, no offence, Macy." Owen stood up from his chair. "If you're seriously this insecure about your relationship with her that you think that one of your friends is after her, you've either seen too much Maury or need to work some shit out on your own. Just leave me out of it, bro."

Owen walked off into the house, leaving Wes and I alone. He huffed, just watching me for a moment.

"Well?" He asked.

"Well what?"

He snorted. "You're not serious."

"Wes, I didn't say anything bad about you."

"But you were just going to let him say whatever he wanted?"

I shrugged again, not wanting to fight with him about something so stupid and childish.

"So you're not going to say anything? For real?"

"What do you want me to say, Wes? I'm sure that you talk about me behind my back sometimes. In fact, I know you do." I looked at his face for a moment. "It's not like Owen and I are doing anything. You know we're not. Wes, his girlfriend was, like, a model. Trust me, he doesn't want me."

"So you want him?"

"What? No. Wes-"

"That's basically what you just said."

"No."

"Yes, it was. You want him. Just admit it."

"Why would I want anything to do with him when I have you?"

"You had Jason and you were all over me."

"First off, we were on a break. Second off, you were the one that was all over me."

"Please. I could do way better than you."

"Then do it."

"Maybe I will."

"Good."

Our fight was broken up as Monica came walking through the back gate. When she saw us, she stopped and stared for a moment, before continuing her walk of shame. Or at least I guess that's the type of walk she was on, because I know it would never be a leisurely one.

Wes just shook his head before going off into the house again. When Monica finally made it to the table, she collapsed into the chair next to me like she had been running for years.

"Where were you?" I asked, though I figured I get no answer. Monica just gave me a look. "Date?"

"Doneven."

"What? He didn't even buy you dinner first? Kristy would be disappointed."

Rolling her eyes, she pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "More important."

"He bought you cigarettes?"

"Gas/Gro. Candy too."

"Candy and cigarettes and you sleep with him?"

"Doneven."

I searched her face for awhile. "Who is it?"

Monica forced herself from the chair. "Stop."

"We know him, don't we?" I made a shocked face. "Eli? You and Mr. Perfect? Please, no. I can't handle this turning into another John story."

"No." She walked off into the house, probably the fastest I had ever seen her. Then it was me, out on the porch alone once again. For a vacation, this trip sure did feel a lot like work.

* * *

Kristy and I gone out to eat lunch with Bert. Wes was still mad at me and tried to call in sibling loyalty, but I think Bert felt like he owed me, seeing as I've been giving him cash. I'd like to believe though that he realized what an ass his brother was being to me and chose to side with me, but I knew as soon as this trip was over, if Wes and I were still fighting, he'd be right back teamed up with his big brother.

We were at Last Chance, going to give it another shot seeing as the older boys weren't with us. We were having a good time when Bert suddenly had to go to the bathroom and Kristy ran over to that store down the road where she got her sunglasses, saying we should just wait for her here. I was sitting alone when people sat down in the table next to me.

"Dude, I just love her," a voice I immediately recognized said. I glanced to the side and saw Jake with Eli, Auden, and that little girl that Eli had brought into the store that time. "Like, I'm changed, you know?"

Eli started to rip up the little girl's burger, seeming to either not hear Jake, which was kind of impossible, or ignoring him, which was most likely. "There you go, Thisbe. You're hungry, huh?"

"Yes." She beamed brightly at him before taking her hat off her head and giving it him. It was the baseball cap that he had set down on the counter that day. He took it, giving her a pat on the head, before going to his own food, which he proceeded to cover in ketchup.

"Behave," Auden told him, frowning.

"Take a good look, Aud. Pretty soon you'll be with those sissy boys in Europe and might forget how real American's eat."

"If covering everything in ketchup in hopes you won't kill your taste buds is real American, I just might move to Africa."

"Guys, listen to me," Jake pleaded. "The baby is not that cute."

"Of course she is," Auden said, smiling at Thisbe. "Huh, Isby?"

"I'm in love, okay? L-O-V-E. Love. And this girl is leaving tomorrow."

Auden sighed a little. "What's her name, Jake?"

"You had better not be talking about Auden," Eli said, making a face. "I don't feel like dealing with that."

"I'm being serious, Eli."

"Who is she then?"

"Her name is Monica."

I choked on my drink.

"What?"

"Yeah. I met her at that party the other night. The one where you showed up, Auden? She's one of those tourist dicks. Wait, no, she's not. Her friends are. Remember? She was the one that I was talking about when I was drunk?"

"The one with the boyfriend? Jake-"

"No, Eli. See, I thought that she was too, because that annoying girl with the boyfriend that tried to beat me up at the party said so, but Monica told me that she must have thought that I was talking about Annabel. I wasn't. I'm in love with Monica."

Auden, who was sitting across from him, smiled. "I think it's cute that you're finally in love, Jake."

"I told you to leave the tourist dicks alone, Jake," Eli said, frowning at him.

"She's not a tourist dick."

"Might as well be."

"Stop saying dick," Auden said, frowning. "We do have Thisbe with us."

Eli held up his hand and Thisbe, who was sitting across from him, leaned over to give him a high five. "Thisbe's fine. She can hang. Huh, Thisbe?"

"Yes!"

"Still. If Heidi hears that we talk like that in front of her, you might not be able to baby sit anymore."

"What about you?"

"She's my sister. She can't keep her from me."

"She likes me better," Eli tried.

"Does not."

"Yes-"

"Guys!" Jake, who was next to Thisbe, frowned. "Come on, pay attention."

"Did you guys hook up?" Auden asked.

"Why? Remembering our fling?"

"All twenty seconds of it."

"Maybe twenty on your part, virgin-"

"That's one of the words I was talking about."

"She doesn't know what it means."

"So?"

Eli shook his head. "So was this the night of the party or-"

"No, we just talked then. Last night, I met her as Gas/Go. She was getting cigarettes, so I bought her a pack and some candy. Then I took her back to your place, Eli, since I'm sort of staying with Mom and Dad right now."

"What?" Eli frowned. "Are you serious? Jake-"

"Chill, you guys were at Clyde's."

"And? In my bed?"

"Then we showered."

"What?"

Auden sighed. "Jake, why do you have to be such an ass all the time?"

"Hey, you just used a word."

"And? I'm her sister."

"I hope you bought matches with those cigarettes because I am going to have to burn those sheets. Aud, do we have Scrubbing Bubbles? My poor shower…You know that I hate for women to use it. They get hair in the drain and stuff. I don't even like for Auden to use it! My bed…My poor, poor bed. That's it. I want the apartment key back."

"Bro, you have to contribute to the cause. I'm in love. I couldn't take her to my parent's house! Did you see how beautiful she was?"

"You and Auden hooked up by the sand dunes."

"My exact point."

Auden rolled her eyes. "Can we, like, stop mentioning that? Please? I think everyone is entitled to one one night stand in their life."

"Not you, Thisbe," Eli said, handing her some of his onion rings. "You're never going to date, huh?"

She just giggled.

"Alright, guys, I have to go now," Jake said, standing. "I'm taking Monica to lunch."

"You just ate," Eli said.

"Bro, I can eat eighty times a day and still be hungry."

"I don't know how with all that beer you drink," Auden commented, taking a sip of her soda.

As Jake stood up, he saw me and smiled but said nothing as he rushed from the restaurant.

"I'm shocked at him," Auden said, wiping the toddler's fingers of ketchup.

"I know. My apartment?"

"No. Him and this girl."

Eli shook his head. "He's just playing, like he always does. I hope this girl knows what she's doing, getting involved with him." Eli glanced at her. "You know, I hear only idiots sleep with him."

"Shut up."

He just kissed her head before helping clean Thisbe up, who had made a mess of her food.

"Man, my stomach is tore up."

I frowned at Bert as he sat back down next to me. "Thanks for the status update."

"Just thought you should be aware. Kristy still isn't back?"

"Not yet," I told him, distracted still. It was so weird, Eli being alright with what I assumed to be his brother having a past relationship, however short, with his girlfriend. Wes couldn't even handle the fact that I went out to lunch with Owen. Here they all are though, eating together, joking, like nothing was wrong. Maybe Eli is Mr. Perfect. Maybe.

When Kristy came back, she just sat down across from me, not seeing her most recent failed attempt at perfection. "You would not believe- Macy, I can't believe you."

Well, for a moment she didn't see him.

"What?"

"Sitting right next to him. God," she whispered hissed at me.

"We were here first, Kristy. What did you want me to do? Make a big scene of moving?"

"No. But I don't want you just sitting here either."

"Too late."

She huffed. "Since you started hooking up with Owen, you have become a lot more annoying."

Bert frowned. "What?"

"Kristy's being stupid."

"No. You didn't know Bert? All the time you spend with Owen and you haven't noticed? Macy's obsessed with him."

Bert just stared at me, not saying anything. I honestly thought that he knew that Wes thought something was going on. I figured brothers told each other everything. When I really thought about it though, Owen was right. Wes and I both treated Bert like he was way younger, when really, he was only younger by a few years.

"I am not," I said, blushing for some reason. "Kristy's he's going to think that you're serious."

"Maybe I am."

"Then you're an idiot. I'm perfectly fine with Wes."

"Perfectly fine? But not happy?"

"We all know the only reason that you're trying to cause problems for me and Wes is because you want him, so just quit, alright?"

"What? Macy, I was your biggest supporter in getting together."

"Realize you made a mistake?"

"No. Maybe you did with Owen though."

"You really think that we…cause we didn't."

"Right."

"We didn't."

Bert stood up. "We should probably leave now. I mean, I'm not really the person to contribute to this conversation anyways."

Kristy, now mad at me, stormed out, leaving Bert and I behind in her trail. I took one more look at Mr. Everything, who was now staring back, but hurried along, wanting to keep up with Bert.

"I'm really not doing anything with Owen," I told him as we walked back to the beach house. We had gone five minutes without talking and I couldn't take it anymore.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Bert, I'm serious."

"Wes is my brother, Macy. If he thinks that you are, then I have to too."

"He doesn't think that. Kristy's messing with us for some reason."

"She's been my friend longer than you. I have to be on her side too."

So that the line. No matter how much time I spent with all of them, I would still be the newest person to the group. That happened every single time I got into an argument with any of them. I don't know why I always expect something different. I kicked a rock up, sighing.

"If I didn't have all those restrictions though," Bert began, "I would believe you. And, also, Owen's really into honesty. Cheating isn't in him. It just isn't. And Wes would kill him and use his bones to make a statue."

"Oh."

"I think he would just kill you, not use your bones."

"Thanks for bringing a little morbid stuff to my day."

"I like you. Macy. Even if you are cheating on Wes, you're…cool. We're friends."

"Yeah. We are."

When we got back to the house, Wes was in the bedroom, talking on the phone. I think it was Delia. I laid down on the bed next to him, staring at his face. Wes pretended like I hadn't come in and just kept talking. I reached out and touched his arm, but he moved. When I did it a second time, I got a look, but he let me touch him. Slowly, I moved to lay my head on his pillow.

"Yeah. The second we get back, we got a gig? I mean, it's not like we can tell you no. Yeah, I know. It's your business. Yeah. No, her mom called once. Yeah. Nah, you think? No. Mrs. Queen loves me." He laughed. "At least she's nice sometimes. No. Mom would've torn Macy apart. Yeah. Me too. Alright. See you later. Bye."

The second he hung up, Wes sat up, leaving me with nothing to lay on but the bed. I closed my eyes as he sat the cell down next to my stomach.

"I went to lunch with Kristy and Bert. I didn't bring you anything back though."

Still, he didn't speak to me as he sat there. I reach out and ran a hand down his leg. We stayed like that for awhile, neither wanting to move and ruin or connection.

"Wes?" There was a knock on the door. "Can I talk to you?"

"I thought I told you not to yell?"

"I knocked."

"After the yell."

"I forgot, okay?"

"What do you want?" He asked, not moving.

"We're going down to the beach."

"We?"

"Me, Owen-"

"Me and Macy are fine here."

"…Alright. We'll be back in time for that party tonight."

"Alright. See you later, Bert."

"Bye."

After we heard the front door close, Wes asked, "Are we going to the party?"

"It's up to you."

"Alone time, or too much of it, hasn't helped us any."

"Then why are we staying here instead of the beach?"

"You spending time with Owen isn't helping any either."

I didn't say anything for a moment. "I'm not cheating on you."

"Oh, I know. I'm just defusing a problem before it arises."

"Wes-"

"You're lucky that I give a shit enough to even deal with this. If you were anyone else, I would have just broken up with you."

"Why am I any different?"

"I've put nearly a year in this relationship, Macy. I'm not just going to give it up. Yet."

"Yet?"

"Keep fucking with my head and it's done."

"Me? This is not all on me."

'How is it not?"

"What about you and Kristy?"

"What about us?"

"Don't fuck with me either, Wes."

He made a face at me. "I'm not. We're friends. You know that we're friends. We've always been friends. We'll only ever be friends."

"Oh, whatever. Like you don't know that she's into you."

He shrugged. "A lot of women are."

"You are too cocky."

"Right. Sure."

"You are. And according to Annabel, I'm better looking than you."

"Right. Annabel must be a lesbian, because-"

"See? Cocky. If someone's not into you, clearly they don't like guys? Wrong. I'm hotter than you."

"Please, save yourself the embarrassment of actually thinking that."

I let out a yawn. "Owen says that you're just scared."

"Owen says. Why does Owen say that?"

"Because I'm leaving at the end of the summer."

"What's there to be afraid of?"

"At first I didn't get it either, but now I think I do." I sat up on my elbows. "If you're this jealous of Owen, a guy who is your friend, spending a few days hanging out with me, what are we going to do when we're miles away from each other and I'm meeting new people? I mean, you don't really think when I get there that I won't find guy friends, do you?"

He breathed out through his nose. "Let's get one thing straight, Mace. I am not jealous. Your life is your fucking life. You want to go be with Owen? Go. You wanna go hook up with anyone and be a slut? Go. Fine. Whatever."

"Wes, I'm not trying to fight-"

"Who's fight?"

"I don't want anyone else, but you, Wes. I was just saying-"

"I don't care, Macy. I really fucking don't. You want to hang out with other guys? Fine. Do what you want and I'll do what I want." He got out of the bed finally and left, slamming not only the bedroom door, but also the front door.

I stayed in the room for awhile, trying to decipher what that meant. When I heard the front door open and close again, I got up, thinking it was Wes, coming back to talk.

"I know that you're probably still mad, but-" I stopped short as I made it to the living room. "Oh."

Monica and Jake, who were making out on the couch, separated. Monica sighed.

"Beach?"

"I stayed behind."

"Go. Now."

I made a face. "Fine, I'll leave, I guess."

Jake just reached over to the coffee table and picked up his beer. "See ya."

I didn't want to go to the beach, because I didn't want to deal with the others, so I went ahead and stared walking around town. I was doing that when I ran into Wallace and that other guy. Adam, I think.

"Oh, look, the tourist dick," Wallace called out to me as I walked past some place called Abe's Bikes. I rolled my eyes while the other guy sighed.

"Wallace, can't you be chill for, like, a minute?" Adam smiled at me. "I hear that one of your friends has made Jake a changed man."

I nodded a little, stopping to talk to them. "He's at our place right now with her."

"Says that he's moving."

"What?"

"Yeah. He's moving to be closer to her."

"From being together three days?"

Adam nodded. "It's not like he has a lot going on here anyways. He was between apartments at the moment and was living with his mom. If he can find a place down there, I'm sure it will be for the better."

"For us, at least," Wallace mumbled.

"What?"

"He doesn't really like Jake currently," Adam explained.

"I thought that you were mad at all of us for fighting with him?"

"Oh, I am, tourist dick, but Jake is an ass too."

"You know, you would probably get a lot more friends if you stopped calling everyone a tourist dick," I told him, smiling to let him know that I was just joking. Wallace just stared at me for a moment.

"You look really familiar," he said, still staring. "Do we know each other?"

"Not that I know of."

"Which beach house are you guys stay at?"

I told him and then Adam looked shocked.

"Joe! You're Mr. Joe's daughter."

Suddenly I felt self-conscious. "Uh, yeah."

"Really sorry about what happened," Adam said. "He used to come here a lot. Him and some other guys. Mr. Dave and Mr. James. They were really cool. They used to donate money to the bike shop."

I nodded a little, though I hadn't known that.

"He'd let us use the beach house while he was gone for parties and stuff."

"He was cool like that."

"You look a lot like him," Adam told me, to which Wallace nodded. I didn't know what to say to that, but I didn't have to as Eli walked out of the store.

"Guys, you said you were taking a five minute break. It's over. Get back in here."

"We're talking to-"

"I don't care. This is our only busy season. Can you not get off your butts for once and do something?"

"Eli mean," came a voice from behind him. "Bad Eli!"

"Shush, Thisbe."

She just giggled, poking her head out the door. "Hi!"

Eli patted her on the head. "I told you to be quiet."

"Bad Eli."

"I should probably go so you guys can get back to work," I said, staring to walk.

"Well, wait a minute. Are you coming to the party tonight?" Wallace called after me. "I mean, I've been a complete douche to you all week. We're having one tonight at my place. You heard?"

"Yeah, actually, we're going."

He smiled at me, which was something that I hadn't really seen on him. I was, after all, just a tourist dick. "Good."

When I got back to the house, Monica and Jake were nowhere to be found. However, Kristy was there. She was on the couch, typing on her laptop. She ignored me, so I chose to do the same to her. It was almost six now, so I decided to go ahead and shower to get ready for the party later.

When I got out of the shower, nearly everyone else was gone, except for Owen and Annabel. They were making out on the couch. I made my exit quietly before realizing that I didn't know where I was going. Kristy was the one who knew where the place was. In hopes that they were still there, I headed to the bike shop where all those guys worked. Inside, I could see Monica and Jake talking at the counter, so I went in.

"Hey, it's you again."

I smiled at Jake while Monica pulled out her cigarettes. "I was just looking for your friends. I kind of need a ride to that party."

"The one at Wallace's place? Or the one out of town? That's where we're going," Jake told me, to which Monica nodded.

"No, Wallace's."

"He's in the back. Wall! Come here for a sec."

He and Adam walked out of the back, but were talking to each other. For a second, I thought about just ditching the party all together, seeing as it would do me no good to go anyways. I was having the worst time ever, so why go out and try to even have fun when I know it won't end well? If I just went home, I'm sure that Annabel and Owen would be fine with me hanging around with them. Though, that thinking was part of the problem anyways.

Really, though, I knew by tomorrow, Wes would be angry, but we were leaving. Once we were back in town, he would probably try to avoid me, as would Kristy, and I would have no chance to speak to them except on catering gigs. And even then, they would tell Delia that they wanted the day off or make sure that I got stuck working the kitchen or something. So if I was going to fix things with him, now was the time. And these guys, no matter how big of jerks they had been, were my only chance.

"Can you take, uh," Jake motioned to me.

"Macy."

"Can you guys take Macy with you back to your place?"

"Why, I don't know how Joe would feel about a threesome. And personally, I don't know how I do as long as Adam's included."

"Wallace, seriously?" Adam hit him. "Anyways, yeah."

"Whose there anyways?" Jake asked as he handed Monica a lighter after she found that hers was out of fluid.

"Eli was. He bought us the beer and everything," Wallace said.

Adam nodded. "We're underage."

"Aren't we all?" Jake said, making a face. "Can we close up now? We're headed to Josh's party."

"Dude, Josh hates you. You slept with his girl."

"Before. Old me did," Jake said, more for the benefit of Monica and me, though she looked more interested in smoking. "Anyways, the place will be packed. He won't know I'm there."

"Why can't you come with us? Everyone will be there."

"That's the point. I'm tired of you guys." He wrapped his arm around Monica, though she didn't seem to be enjoying it much. "I'm moving, if you haven't already heard."

"We have. Multiple times. All from you." Adam sat down a rag that he had in his hand. "Hey, you ready?"

"Yeah," I said when I realized that he was talking to me. As we walked outside to their car, I said, "Is he moving just for Monica?"

'Yeah," Wallace said, climbing into the driver's seat of the car. Adam opened the passenger side door, though he didn't get in. He looked at me, expectantly.

"Thanks," I said, climbing in. He just smiled before getting into the back seat.

"Is she serious about him?" Wallace asked after he turned down their music.

"Who?"

"That chick. Monica. Does she care about Jake?"

"I don't…I don't think so, no."

Adam shook his head. "Jake's a jerk."

"He's a changed man," Wallace said, mocking Jake's voice. He got a snicker from Adam, but I just stared at the road. Wallace glanced at me. "Jake's our friend, but he's a dick. And not the tourist kind."

Adam leaned forward in his seat. "He's not that bad."

"You only say that because he was cool when you dated Maggie."

Shrugging, he said, "So? All I know is if this girl does hurt him, he's getting what he deserves. He plays everyone. It's finally his turn to be played."

"Not if Eli's got anything to say about it."

"Eli's just being a good brother."

"You'd think that he'd want Jake to get hurt too, after he slept with Auden."

"Man, Jake will not shut up about that. It's been a long time. Move on."

Wallace glanced at me. "Is he moving in with that chick? Monica?"

"No, I don't think so," I said, trying to picture Stella opening her trailer to Jake and all the drama he obviously brings. And I didn't really see Monica pleading her case for him. Maybe he can stay with Wes and Bert…maybe.

"I just feel kind of bad about us letting him fall into this," Adam admitted to Wallace.

"Eli will fix it. Besides, he has to get burned eventually. Might as well get him out of our hair for awhile while we're at it."

"I guess."

When we got to the party, the small house was filled and I had no idea how I was going to find the others. Or even if I wanted to find them. Once again, my will to fix things with Wes so quickly were fading. I told the guys bye before walking off, planning to find Kristy first, as she was usually easier to get to forgive me. Even when it was me that needed to do the forgiving, it was simpler to just pretend like I had done wrong.

"Hey, Bert," I said, going over to him. The girl he was talking to, frowned at me, but I ignored her. "Have you seen Kristy?"

He nodded, pointing in the last direction he had seen her go, which was to the backyard. He was in the kitchen, apparently having fun. "Like my hat? More than the one from the other day?"

"Yeah, sure," I said, distracted when I saw Wes in the living room, talking to some girl. He saw me looking, I know he did. Then he leaned closer to her, putting his back to me. Fine. Whatever. Deciding then that I didn't even want to fix things with Wes ever, I went outside to find Kristy. She was talking to some guy and I didn't want to ruin it, so I went back in and got a beer before coming back. This time she wasn't talking to anyone, so I headed over.

"Hey, Kristy."

She looked at her nails, not saying anything. I sighed.

"If you're mad at me-"

"If?"

"Fine. You're mad at me and I'm sorry."

"See, I don't know about that."

"What?"

"I mean, you freaking blew up at me for nothing."

"You were telling Bert-"

"I was kidding. Kind of."

"Oh, whatever."

She rolled her eyes. "Macy, I'm not the one that's causing problems here. You are. Wes and I have been friends for a long time-"

"I am so tired of that getting thrown into my face every time any of us fight. Every time. Since when does length play into friendship? I thought it was about who's right and who's wrong?"

"Fine. You're wrong. Problem solved."

"How though?"

"You know that Wes is jealous. You know that he is. Yet you won't stop hanging out with Owen."

"And? There's nothing-"

"I know that. Honestly, I do. But he thinks there is. Out of respect for him, you should have just left Owen alone. Yet you kept pushing it." Kristy finally looked at me. "Just admit it. You liked him being jealous."

"Well…Yeah."

"See? You were causing problems. It was your fault. Not mine."

"Yeah, sure," I said, though I still secretly disagreed.

"Oh, and Macy?"

"What?"

"I don't want Wes. At all."

Again, I silently opposed.

"Besides, I'm still into Mr. Everything," she said, smiling at me.

"He has a girlfriend."

"And? You heard them. She leaving for the summer. As we both know, a lot can change in one summer."

"I guess."

"You had your turn to be the pirate. Now it's my turn."

I left her after a few more words to go find Wes. I was still mad at him, but my beer had given me a little liquid courage. Plus, he was my ride home so it seemed.

When I did find him, he was in the hallway, still talking to that girl. I downed the rest of my beer, wishing that it would have a lasting effect, as I made my way over.

"I need to talk to you," I said, stopping in front of them. Wes glanced at me and then my beer. "It's my first." When I realized how that sounded, I said, "Beer. I know what you're thinking, Wes."

He shrugged. "Talk."

The girl got annoyed with us. "I was talking first, so fuck off, alright?"

I looked at her before back at Wes. I was totally going to need another beer if I was going to deal with her. Maybe two. Wes sighed.

"Look, uh…" He looked around, clearly not knowing her name.

"Belissa."

"Belissa, I've kind of got something to do right now. Maybe we can talk later."

She made a face before walking off. Wes watched her go before looking at me.

"This had better be important, Macy, because she was hot."

"And?"

"And? You're the one that said we should do what we wanted."

"No. You said that."

"Right. You were just the one doing it."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm trying to say I'm sorry."

"Really?"

"I don't know. Is that what you want?"

Wes took a deep breath. We had to stand really close to hear each other because of the music that was blasting, but I didn't want to suggest we go somewhere else for fear he'd say no.

"I want you to mean whatever you say."

"And I have been! I'm not with Owen. First off, ew. Second off, I'm friends with Annabel. Kind of. And plus, I wouldn't do that. If I didn't want to be with someone else, I would just break up with the other person."

Wes sighed a little. "It's not that I think you are doing anything with him, Macy. I just don't like you being so…friendly with another guy."

"That's kind of immature."

"Fine. I'm immature. Whatever. I still don't like it."

"What do you want me to do, Wes? I'm not going to just stop being friends with him."

"I just…Come here." Wes grabbed my hand and led me into the first door we saw. It turned out to be a closet, but he pushed me in anyways, closing the door. The music was now muffled, it was dark and smelled of mothballs, but at least we got to finish this alone.

"I don't like it, Macy. What do you want me to say? That I do? Because I don't. And I won't like it when you leave for college. I want you to stay here with me. I know that you won't. And I know that we'll probably break up if you go. And I know that I don't want it to go down like that. I just…I just don't want things to change, okay?"

I stared into his eyes as my own adjusted to the darkness. "You think we'll break up?"

"Doesn't everyone when someone leaves for college?"

"I don't know. Do they?"

"Yeah. Normally the person leaving wants to grow and meet new people."

"Oh. So I'm supposed to break up with you?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Well…I don't really want to grow. I think I have enough. And I don't want to break up with you, Wes."

It was his turn to look at me, but instead of responding, he just kissed my neck, pushing me up against the back of the wall. The coats and jackets that hung above us felt weird against my body, like arms trying to reach out and grab you. I felt Wes' arms actually just do that.

"And I think that we can make it."

He kept at my neck, mumbled a yeah against my skin.

"And I know that we'll probably fight a lot, but don't we always?"

I got an uh-huh that time.

"And…And…Wes, would you stop? I thought we were talking?"

"We were," he said, pulling back to look at me as his hands went to my jeans. "Now we're doing this."

I had never hooked up at a party before, much less in a closet, but it was different. From that point forth though, I was pretty sure I would always be turned on by mothballs. Guess it's a good thing they're banned in most places…

* * *

"Where were you guys?"

"Nowhere," Wes told Bert as he led me outside.

"Right, whatever. Anyways, I was wondering-"

"No. Leave."

He made a face at his brother before running off, back into the house. Wes led me to his truck, where we sat on the hood.

"So we're fine again?" I asked, for some reason feeling awkward. We had had sex before, but this was different. In multiple ways in the technical sense, but mainly because I felt a little embarrassed about it being at a party.

"Yeah. Sure."

I leaned against his arm, looking back at the house. I could see Kristy through a window, talking to yet another guy. Wes reached down and grasped one of my hands.

"I think we will make it. Through you going to college, I mean," he said randomly, as if to ease my mind even though I had forgotten about that. I was still stuck on the masturbating each other in the closet thing…

"What? Yeah. Of course."

"I mean, a lot of people break the mold."

"Mold?" I glanced up at him before back at the people milling around the house. I saw Mr. Everything with Auden, making out. They were probably preparing for that long stretch of time that they were going to be apart.

"Yeah, like…" He trailed off, looking around before finding Owen and Annabel sitting on the ground, her in his lap, as Owen leaned against the back of the house. He had his headphones in and she was flipping through songs on his mp3 player. "Them. Owen and Annabel. You wouldn't think that they would work together, but they do. They're happy with not being normal."

"I guess."

"And what about them," he asked, pointing at Auden and Eli, who probably were never going to come up for air.

"What about them?"

'They're doing exactly what we're dong. She's skipping out for the summer and he's deal, right? Isn't that what we heard the other night?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

He elbowed me gently. "We'll work out fine."

I thought about what he had said about the mold. "Like Monica and Jake."

"…I'm going to leave that one alone and pretend like I didn't hear it."

Smiling, I interlaced our fingers. "It would be appreciated."

I know that we had just solved our problems with sex, but I still felt like something had been accomplished. Kind of. For now. But isn't everything in life just trying to hold off the inevitable in the most enjoyable way possible?


	7. Chapter 7

Graduation Trip

Chapter 7

When we got home that night, something was different. We all got there at different times, some of us coming with Owen, some walking, and no one riding back with Wes and I. Wes and I had left early, went to eat, and then just gone home. We went to bed after kissing for a little, but around five in the morning, something woke me up, like usual. This time, Wes wasn't there, so I got up to see what was going on.

"Guys?" I walked into the living room, which was lighted for some reason. No one was around. I checked the bunk bed room, but no one was there either, not even Monica. When I checked the front, the cars were still there. I'm official freaked out. Deciding to look out back before deciding that the Rapture had happened and I was the only one out of my friends not taken up, kind of hard to believe knowing them all like I do, I went to the back door.

They were all there, of course, sitting at different spots on the porch, talking, laughing, listening to music. It wasn't even Owen's crappy techno. It was normal, good music. I stared at them through the window, listen to them all laugh as Wes told some story or something. Then he pointed to Kristy and it was made clear to me then that they were playing Truths. Our Truths. Wasn't Kristy the one that said we were only supposed to play it together? Wasn't Owen the one that said it was our own special thing?

It was so weird to me, seeing Wes and Owen sit next together and be perfectly fine. They were all drinking and from the beers that now littered the porch, I could see that they had been for awhile. Without me. Again. Maybe I really don't belong with this group. Maybe.

Annabel looked up suddenly and saw me. She smiled and motioned to me, but I shook my head. I'd just ruin their fun anyways, probably. I turned and headed back to the bedroom. As much as a failed trip this turned out for me, at least they were having fun on their last night.

"Macy."

I rolled my eyes, not turning around.

"You're going to make me run, huh?" Wes grabbed my arm before I closed the bedroom door. "Where are you going?"

"Back to bed. I just wanted to see where you guys were. Now I know."

Wes didn't let go of my arm. "Well, now that you know, you can come and hang out with us. We're drinking all that beer. Finishing it off. You know how good you are at that."

"I thought you said you didn't like me drinking so much?"

"As long as I'm monitoring, I don't mind it much."

I stared at him. "You sure seemed to have forgiven Owen."

"Beer does that. Come on, Mace. Come hangout with us. In a few hours, we have to leave."

Reluctantly, I let him lead me outside. When we got there, it was Annabel's turn, apparently. She seemed really embarrassed, but the beer was helping her. Wes sat down on the ground next to Owen once more, pulling me in-between his legs. He picked up his beer and handed it to me. I finished it off quickly, making him laugh, pulling me closer to his chest.

"Annabel, you have to answer," Kristy said, setting her own beer down. "We all answered. Come on."

She finally stopped drinking to answer. "Owen."

"Seriously?" Kristy started laughing. "You've only been with Owen?"

"Technically, yeah."

"Technically?"

Owen rolled his eyes. "Anyways, can we move on?"

"Fine, Mr. Hotshot, you answer."

"What are we playing?" I whispered to Wes.

"Someone asks a question and then everyone has to answer it. If you refuse, you get kicked out."

"Annabel," he said, just shrugging when Kristy gave him a look.

"You guys really have only ever…You're missing out on so much. Shame," Kristy said.

"Way to sound like a slut, Kristy," Wes commented as I reached over to the cooler next to us and grabbed a Bud. When I sat back, Wes kissed my neck.

"Fine. Your turn, Wes," she said, staring at him.

"The first person I slept with? Uh…I was in ninth grade and this chick-"

"Name, Wes."

"That's kind of the problem."

Bert frowned. "Really?"

"Well, it's just…the first time I really had sex or the first sex thing I did with someone?"

"Can we just skip him?" Owen asked, making a face.

"No," Kristy said with conviction. "Give us both. Details, Wes. Details."

I took a sip of my beer, trying to tune out everything that was said, though it was impossible.

"Fine. It was my first party and I went and…we didn't really have sex. She just…seriously, Kristy?"

"Yes."

"Handjob."

Kristy started laughing. "Who was it?"

"I really can't remember. I think it was…Nicky Johnson or something."

"First real time?" Kristy asked, too interested in my boyfriend's sex life.

"Jenny Rogers."

Kristy giggled while Bert rolled his eyes. Then she sat up. "Macy?"

God. "I'm not-"

"Do you forfeit?"

"No. Wes."

"What?" Kristy seemed shocked. "Wes, really?"

"Yeah. We found some bottles of whiskey in the garage. We took turns drinking it. We were playing Truths, I asked if she wanted to-"

"Do you have to tell everything?" I asked, staring at my beer can.

"Fine. I didn't really believe she was still a virgin, I wanted to find out. It's not that long of a story," Wes said as Bert started eyeing me.

"What?" I asked and he immediately went back to the bag of chips he had.

"Your turn, Bert," Kristy sang, still clearly pleased with what she was causing. That was the first time that I noticed Monica wasn't around. Lucky her. I was starting to wish that I had never come out here to play this game.

"I-"

"You've been with someone?" Wes frowned. "Really?"

"Well…yeah, once."

I shifted a little, also wishing that I didn't have to hear this confession.

"With who, Bert?" Kristy asked. "You guys really don't get the question. It was who's your first. Macy wasn't even here for it and she answered correctly."

Wes wrapped his arm around my body, kissing the side of my head. His brother sighed.

"Her name was Rachel. It's not that important," he said, clearly embarrassed.

"Fine then, we all went. My turns over. Who's next?" Kristy asked.

"Me," Wes said. "Who's done oral?"

I elbowed him. "Do they all have to be dirty?"

"Yes," Kristy said.

"Yes you have or yes they all have to be?"

"Yes, they all have to be. Honestly, you have very low expectations of me, Macy. No, I haven't."

"Owen?" Wes asked, laughing when he got a glare.

"No."

"So no for you too?" He asked, looking at Annabel. She blushed and nodded while reaching for another beer.

"No more," Owen told her, grabbing her hand.

"One more."

"Fine. Seriously though, last one."

"Whatever," she said, popping the tab.

"We're almost out anyways," Wes commented.

"Well? It's your question, Wes. Have you or haven't you?" Kristy asked.

"Nope."

"Liar."

"I'm not," he said," shaking his head.

"Then no, Macy?" She asked, sighing. As if I were boring or something for only being with Wes.

"No," I admitted, though I really didn't feel that bad. I mean, since when is not being a hoe a bad thing? Like seriously.

"Bert?"

"No."

"Can we play?"

We all looked up as Monica and her…whatever Jake was to her, came walking through the gate.

"Sure," Kristy said, eyeing Jake. "First question is, what were you doing with my sister?"

"Chill out. I just gave her a ride."

"Nice to know she's dominate," Wes mumbled to me, which got him another elbow. "That is a flagrant foul, Mace."

"Bench me."

He just kissed behind my ear.

Bert blew air into his cheeks, letting it out slowly. "I don't feel real good."

"You probably drank too much." Wes stood up behind me and went over to his brother. "Come on. You can sleep in me and Macy's bed so that you don't have to get on the top bunk. We're staying out here anyways."

While Wes left to go take care of his brother, Monica and Jake were quickly roped into the game. As seemed to be the new norm with me and alcohol, I focused more on that, not even listening half the time. All the questions were sex related or something and had seemed to get worse after Bert left. Annabel had finally fallen asleep on Owen's shoulder and he was texting someone. Really, it was just a game between Kristy and Jake to see who was the biggest whore. Gee, am I shocked that Jake won? It's amazing to know that Jake and Mr. Everything come from the same DNA.

"Bert's asleep," Wes said, coming back outside.

"Good." I kissed him as he sat back down next to me. Wes pulled me into his lap this time, holding me to him. "Where are we going to sleep?"

"Why? You already tired?"

"A little."

"It's only…six in the morning."

"The sun has come up."

"Well, coming up."

"Wes?" Kristy looked over at us randomly. "Your answer?"

"What was the question?"

"Have you ever been with someone older and if so, by how much?"

Wes rolled his eyes. "That? You know, Kristy. I was with that 25 year old when I was a junior."

"What?" I looked at him.

"Me and one of my buddies had her thinking I was nineteen. Then Delia found out. She flipped."

"Duh. My mother would kill me if I was with someone that much older," I said, frowning at him.

"I'm a guy. It's cool for me. If you were with someone older by that much, he would be a perv. Duh. Come on, Mace."

"That's sexism."

"That world thrives on that," Jake told me, chugging a beer. Monica rolled her eyes, clearly. "Monica gets that."

She didn't seem to get much of anything, except for the fact that she was almost out of cigarettes.

"Your turn, Jake," Kristy said.

"Uh…anyone ever had a scare?"

"Scare?"

"STD scare."

"No," Wes said, shaking his head.

"I've only been with him, so no," I said, wrapping an arm around Wes' neck. He thought I was being affectionate, but I honestly was trying to keep my balance.

"Same here," Owen said. "I mean, with Annabel. So no."

"I have," Jake said. When Monica glanced at him, however brief, he quickly stated that everything turned out okay. Wonder how long he can test his luck…

"I haven't either," Kristy said. Annabel, who was still halfway asleep, moved to place her head in Owen's lap. Owen stroked her blonde hair absently, now openly staring at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing."

"No. What?"

He still just shook his head. Wes tightened his grip on me and I leaned back against him. "What time are we leaving?"

"I dunno. Does anyone have anything to do today? It doesn't matter to me when we head out," Wes said, his breath tickling my ear.

"We have a catering gig. Remember?" Kristy said, frowning when she saw how close Jake was sitting to her sister.

"Not till six tonight," he said as I began to get tired. I felt Wes take my beer from my hands as I closed my eyes.

"What about any other scares?" Jake asked, clearly not wanting to talk about us leaving.

"Like a pregnancy scare?" Kristy asked, probably still looking at her sister.

"Yeah."

"I did once," she admitted. "But turns out I was just late."

"No," Owen said, speaking for both of them. "Not us."

"Nope," Wes said. "And with who, Kristy?"

"Jacob."

I felt him shake his head. "I don't get how so many people have that problem. Just use a condom. It really isn't that hard. It's kind of stupid, really."

"Shut up, Wes. And those are not a hundred percent effective."

"Still."

"I have," Jake said, as if someone thought that he didn't. "Someone at the party last night won't have the problem."

"What do you mean?" Wes asked when it was clear no one knew what he was saying.

"Some dick freaking jerked off in the closet or something. Adam was pissed. The douche's cum was on the floor and shit," Jake said, shaking his head.

I would have been mortified, but I luckily fell asleep at that point. I think that they all hung out for a little while longer before breaking up because when Wes woke me, it was just the two of us.

"Mace. Macy," he whispered in my ear. "Wake up. Macy. Come on, Mace."

I groaned. "No."

"Yes. We're leaving in an hour. Come on. Let's go pack our stuff up."

"No."

"Yes. Now. Get up."

I stood slowly, yawing. "We have to, uh, throw out all the beer cans and stuff. My mom would flip."

"What? She doesn't know that you drink?"

"No. Of course not."

"Fine. You go pack and I'll clean up, alright?" He kissed me before pointing to the door. "Go."

Groaning again, I walked off into the house. Owen and Annabel were apparently already packed, because they were laying on each other on the couch, talking.

"-come over for dinner."

"Yeah, Bella, of course. I'm sure your dad has some history show for us to watch while dinner's cooking."

"No, he's kind of mad at TV right now."

"Why?"

"Because they rarely show documentaries on stuff anymore. Now all National Geographic and History Channel are is reality shows. He hates it."

When I got to Caroline's room, Bert was still in bed, sleep. I shook my head, going around the room and picking things up. Wes liked to just take off his clothes and leave them where ever. I was going through the task of organizing his bag when Bert woke up. He just mumbled something about not feeling well before falling back asleep.

I rolled my eyes as I finished putting Wes' stuff away. Then I got up and went to the room with the bunk beds and packed up Bert's stuff for him. He, like his brother, was not good at being organized, so he had just shoved his dirty clothes in his bag. I took them out and folded them for him. I was doing that when Monica came into the room. She just stared at me for a moment and I decided to talk to her.

"Bert's still asleep. I thought that I should just put his stuff away for him."

She still just stared, so I tried a different approach.

"So, I heard that Jake's moving to be near you."

"Mmmhmm."

"Do you want him to?"

She pulled out her cigarettes.

"You can't let this guy just move to be with you if you don't really want to be with him, Monica."

"Why?"

"Because…I don't know. I mean, sure, Jake's a douche, but you can't just string him along. It's not right."

"And?"

"And…I don't know. I can't tell you what to do, but I just don't think it's right, Monica. He doesn't seem like that bad of a guy."

Again, I got a stare.

"Well, maybe he is, but still."

"His decision."

"Still. I'm just telling you my opinion. You do what you want."

After I was done packing his stuff, I took all three of our bags out to the truck. Wes was there, finishing off a few beers.

"You're going to have to drive," he told me as I sat down next to him on the tailgate.

"I will." I let him wrap his arm around my shoulders. "Your brother is sick. You guys do not need to be letting him drink that much."

"I was right there the whole time."

"And?"

"I'm his big brother. Nothing bad was going to happen to him."

"Oh, right, I forgot that big brothers cure alcohol poisoning."

"He did not drink that much."

"Still."

Wes kissed my neck. "After the gig tonight, you wanna do something?"

"No. I just want to go home and go to sleep."

"Want me to sneak into your room after your mom goes to bed?"

"Wes, we've spent everyday together for the past seven days."

"And?"

"No."

He made a face. "But all those days don't count, Mace. We were fighting half the time."

"I don't care."

"Fine." He moved his arm to wrap it around my neck. Tightening his grip a little, he kissed the side of my head. "You're missing out though."

"Am I?"

"Yep."

"We were pushing it by asking my mom to let you come on this trip. If she caught me in my room in the middle of the night, she'd kick me out."

"And then you'd say that you were coming to live with me, she'd freak out and take you back."

I looked up into his eyes. "You'd let me come live with you?"

"God, no."

"Wes."

He smiled down at me. "It'd just get you back into the house, that's all. I can't let you live with us."

"Why?"

"Number one, Delia. Number two, you couldn't afford the rent."

"You'd make me pay rent?"

"You'd be living there, wouldn't ya?"

"Don't you guys have that place paid off yet?"

"Well, yeah, my mom and dad paid it off a long time ago. But your forgetting the cost of utilities. Plus, there'd be an extra charge for services."

"What services?"

"No doubt you'd be sleeping in my bed, right?"

"Right."

"Well, I'd have to service you, huh?"

"Wes."

"What? My love does not come cheap."

"You're such a loser," I said, cuddling against him. "So if my mom ever did kick me out…?"

"You better hope Kristy offers you some space."

I snorted. "Will there be enough room? I mean, what with Jake staying there-"

"Oh, whatever."

I smiled at him. "Maybe Bert will let me stay in his room."

"Uh, no he won't. If he did, I would kill him."

"Why?"

"If I'm not housing you, he can't either. That's my house."

"Oh, is it?"

"Currently, yes."

"Maybe I don't want to live there anyways."

"What? Not good enough for you? I mean, after all, you are the daughter of the great Deborah Queen."

I rolled my eyes. "No. I refuse to sleep on that stupid futon."

"Alright, I'll pretend like that's the reason."

"Are we leaving now or what? Because I refuse to sit there and watch Owen and Annabel make out any longer," Kristy complained as she walked over to us. "And I am not, under any circumstance, driving back with them."

"You might have to, unless he takes the coolers." Wes shook his beer at her. "I can't drive. Macy has to."

"Well, you can ride with Owen."

"No. I am going to ride back down with my girlfriend, just like we planned."

"Wes, it isn't fair that I have to ride down with them and back with them."

"Fair? Fair? It isn't fair that I can't buy the shoes I want. It's not fair-"

I took his can from him. "That's enough for now, Wes."

"It's never enough!"

"Fine, I'll ride with Owen and them. Happy?"

"Yes," Wes said, laying his head against mine. "Macy?"

"What?"

He just laughed before standing. "I'mma go get Bert."

"Are we leaving now?"

"Are we?"

"Yeah, I guess so," I said, watching as he stumbled off into the house. He was only in there for a moment when Owen and Annabel came out with their own bags. Saying nothing to us, although I got a look from Owen again, they went over to his Land Cruiser to put their stuff in it.

"What are you doing here again?" Owen asked as Jake walked up to the house.

"I came to say goodbye, man, so just chill, alright? I like my eyes non-bruised, thank you."

"To who?" Kristy asked, frowning. She got her answer as Monica came out of the house, dragging her own bag slowly behind her. Jake rushed to help, though the bag probably weighed nothing.

"I'll be down next week," Jake said, now ignoring us and only speaking to Monica. Now that she didn't have to worry about that pesky bag, she was free to go back to her only apparently love in life. Smoking. "You just need to write down your address."

"Mmmhmm."

Jake sat the bag next to me on the tailgate and I pushed it back, into the bed of the truck.

"Down? Down where?" Kristy asked, still crossing her arms. I pretended to be distracted by my phone, but honestly, no one had texted me.

"Anyways," Owen said, clearly not caring about Kristy. "Who's riding with us?"

"Wes is drunk, so I have to drive the truck," I said, but I could tell Kristy was mad from the glare I was getting. "Or…Kristy, are sober? Enough to drive?"

"Yeah."

"Then you drive the truck. I can ride back with Owen and Annabel."

"Good. Someone needs to sit in the back with Bert. He's probably still not feeling well," Owen said as Wes came out of the house, his brother with him. I got off the tailgate and closed it, before going to help Bert into the Land Cruiser.

"He is very capable of getting in the car on his own, Mace," Wes said, frowning. "I'm just as drunk and you're not-"

"No, Wes, you're not. And you also have a higher tolerance level and you know it."

"I know nothing."

"I don't doubt it," Kristy mumbled, shaking her head. "Anyways, Wes, give me your keys."

"Why?" He asked, finishing the last beer.

"Macy's going to ride with Owen, so I'm driving."

"What? No, you're not."

I sent Kristy a glare. "I'm not riding with Owen. I'm riding with Bert, who's sick and happens to be riding with Owen."

"He is not sick."

Owen held up his hands. "Look, I don't care who rides with us, bro. You guys just hurry up and pick."

"I'm riding with them, Wes."

"No."

"Stop me," I said before going to get into the back seat next to Bert. Owen shook his head as he and Annabel got in too.

"If you're using me to for some sort of weird sex thing going on between you and Wes, knock it off."

"Owen." Annabel hit him in the arm.

"What? Wes is the one that told me that-"

"Shut up."

I frowned as I buckled the sleeping Bert's seatbelt. "Wes told you what?"

"Nothing," Annabel said.

"No, she asked. I tell the truth."

"She wouldn't have asked if you didn't open your big mouth."

"What did he say?" I repeated.

Owen turned on the car, adverting his eyes as Jake and Monica began their make out goodbye. Kristy's jaw would have hit the ground, had she not been having to help Wes find his keys, which he had dropped on the ground.

"Just a ride home?" I heard her say, though it was muffled.

"Before everyone came out there to drink, it was just me on the porch. He came out there, told me that you were just trying to make him jealous, and not to waste my time with you. I told him that I didn't want to be apart of you guys' stupid, immature games and that I was perfectly fine with Annabel."

"And then you told Annabel," I finished.

"I tell Annabel everything," he said. "Maybe you and Wes should try it, instead of that stupid Truth game, which doesn't seem to be doing anything for your relationship."

I made a face while Owen got hit again.

"You really need to learn the difference between telling the truth and just being a jerk," Annabel told him, frowning.

"I'm being helpful, Annabel."

"Yeah, because clearly you're the guy that should give out relationship advice."

"Gee, I've only ever had one girlfriend, she loves me, I love her, and we're perfectly happy. Why am I such a bad guy to go to?"

"I'm not loving you at the moment," she commented dryly.

"But you're still in love with me and that's what counts," Owen said before rolling down his window. "Alright, you guys stay here, This car's taking off. See you guys later."

Kristy was still stewing about Monica's apparent relationship while Wes had yet to find his keys. I almost wanted to trade places with Monica and stay with them, but I said nothing. Wes would only want to fight.

The ride started out in silence. I think that Annabel was angry with Owen for telling me what he did. I didn't want to talk to either of them anyways, seeing as Owen thought that I was using him to get at Wes. I mean, honestly? Someone needs an ego check… And Owen wasn't speaking to either of us because he was so into his music. It was techno, so Annabel had her headphones in, apparently not willing to take the horror he was sending to our ears. I didn't own an mp3 player, but sometimes would borrow Wes'. Right now though, it was in his bag, so I was stuck.

Eventually, I decided that I couldn't stand the silence anymore, so I asked, "Could we not listen to something besides techno?"

"Huh? This is house, not techno."

"Owen."

"What do you want to listen to then, Macy?" He asked, sighing. I glanced out the back window and saw Wes' truck. I bet they were listening to good music…

"I don't know. Don't you have anything…normal?"

"Normal. What exactly is normal?"

"You know. What normal people listen to."

"You can't describe a word using that same word."

"Yes, I can. I just did."

I could almost feel the eye roll that probably got. Owen let out a breath slowly before reaching down and picking up a CD. He ejected the one that was in and replaced it. "Truth Squad good enough for you?"

"I don't know."

"I don't know," he mocked before sighing. "Well, I'm not looking for a CD for you. There are a bunch laying on the floorboard. Hand me the one you want to listen to."

I looked at the littered floorboard, covered in CDs with obscure band names written on them. "No, I'm good."

"Suit yourself."

"Anyways, what did else did Wes say to you?"

"Nothing, really. Kristy came out there after that and wanted to play the game. Annabel came to see what we were doing and then Bert."

I glanced at the boy sitting next to me, still passed out. I kind of felt bad for him, but I mean come on. Everyone knows their limit.

"Hey, Owen?"

"What?"

"You do know that what Wes said isn't true, right?"

"Macy, I'm not getting into that."

"It's not fair that you just let him say his piece and aren't even going to listen to me."

He sighed. "What? What else could you possibly say?"

"Just that I'm not using you to get at Wes. Why would I even want to?"

"I don't know. You guys are the ones with the messed up relationship, not me."

"Right, like you guys is so perfect."

"Not perfect, but better than yours."

"Whatever." I was really starting to wish I hadn't ridden with them. Apparently, whatever Wes said to Owen stuck in his head and now he hated me, or at least disliked me. And was that really a bad thing? I hadn't liked being around him at the start of this trip, so now that it was ending, I could just go back to normal with Wes and forget about Owen.

Needless to say, it was a pretty quiet ride home. Well, quiet besides Bert's random drunk noises and Owen's crappy 'enlightened' music. Besides that, it was completely silent. The first stop we made was to Wes' house. I woke up Bert and helped him inside, seeing as Wes gave me a key to his house a few months ago.

"I already feel better, Macy," he said as I made him lay down on his bed. "Seriously."

"Alright, but you still need to sleep. We have a gig later."

"Whatever."

When I got back outside to get Bert's stuff out of the car, Wes was there, without the girls. He must have already dropped them off.

"You guys can go ahead and take off," Wes said, getting my stuff and Bert's stuff out of Owen's car. "I'll take Macy home."

"Alright, fine," Owen said, turning his music down. Annabel stuck her head out of the car window and called out her thanks to me for letting us stay the week. I smiled and waved, watching as they drove off.

"Glad that's over," Wes said as he took my stuff over to his truck.

"What's over?"

"The trip. Now we can start our summer."

"Yeah, but when that's over, I-"

"Don't want to talk about that," Wes said, now taking Bert's and his stuff inside. I followed. "You probably want to go home now, huh?"

"No. Not unless you want me to, because then yeah."

"I don't want you going anywhere." Wes sat the stuff on the floor of the living room before grabbing my hand and taking me to his bedroom. "Sit."

I sat down on his futon and watched as he went across the hall to check in on his brother. Once he was sure that he was fine, he came back to me.

We laid down on the futon, which was rather small and made it hard for us not to touch. Where was this all vacation?

"So…we're good?" Wes asked, looking at me.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Good." He kissed me quickly before pulling back. "And don't you ever leave me in a car with Kristy after she finds out that Monica has a new boyfriend."

"I wanted to be with Bert."

"Right. Anyways, how'd your ride go?"

"You told Owen that I was using him. You know that I wasn't."

"It's a dirty game, love. Sometimes you have to throw dirt."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh and this is love?"

"It better be, or else I want my year back."

I just smiled, rolling over to cuddle into his side. Wes paused for a second before laying on his side also and wrapping an arm around me.

"It hasn't been a year yet. Soon, but not yet."

"Close enough for me." He kissed my forehead. "You know…We have a lot of making up to do."

"Wes-"

"Not now, necessarily," he mumbled, moving to kiss my lips this time. "After all, we have all summer."

* * *

**That's it for Graduation Trip. I might do another Truth about Forever story, but maybe not. Thanks to anyone who read it and the even fewer who actually reviewed. **


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